The Light Hurts My Eyes
by Cyborgscouse
Summary: XO with Pitch Black. Set during the Halloween season 2. What happens when Xander chooses to go as an escaped mass murderer that only wants to look out for himself and knows more vicious ways of killing someone then Angelus. BX, WO
1. You're not afraid of the dark are you?

**Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS, or Pitch Black/Chronicles of Riddick. If I did do you think I'd be writing fan fiction.**

**Summary: X/O with Pitch Black. Set during the Halloween season 2. What happens when Xander chooses to go as an escaped mass murderer that only wants to look out for himself and knows more vicious ways of killing someone then Angelus.**

**A/N: This will be a B/X but will have hints of B/A and maybe X/C at the start.**

**A/N 2: The Rider has been taken down to be revised but should be back up soon. There Green Knight will be revised as well. I'll be updating some of my other stories this week I hope. I've just ran out of momentum. **

_Italics - thoughts_**  
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* * *

**Halloween, 4:00 P.M, Ethan's Costume Shop**

Walking around the new but surprisingly small costume shop Xander was becoming more and more irritated; he didn't know if it was because he couldn't find a costume to wear when they had to look after the group of children Snyder had assigned to them or if it was because all Buffy was talking about was finding a costume that Angel would like on her. He'd admit to himself that he still had problems with Angel being a vampire and Buffy dating him, at first it was just jealousy but now it just through him. She was a slayer, he was a vampire. But they're in love. He knew for a fact that Angel had made the story of them finding Buffy in the Master's lair that Angel was the one that dragged Xander there and not the other way around to try and get points with the small but almost scarily sexy slayer.

"Can I help you?" a man asked coming over to Xander, turning his head he saw that the shop owner looked roughly the same age as Giles. Smiling he shook his head before he turned away to see what was keeping Buffy and Willow as they looked at costumes on the other side of the shop. "Perhaps I could interest you in some of our newer costumes?" he asked leading Xander away from where he was standing trying to use his height to look over the racks of costumes to Buffy and Willow.

Realizing that he was doing what he said he wouldn't when he was following the shop keeper Xander shrugged. How much trouble could come from looking at the newer costumes instead on the normal ghost, or monkey suits he had out front? Stopping near the back of the shop he saw that more and more costumes where on mannequins to show what they would look like when they were being worn.

"Ahh. Yes, this one will do." Ethan said stopping at the centre of the room and looked at Xander before turning back to the costume he obviously wanted him to buy. Looking at it Xander couldn't see anything special about it; it was a black vest top, tight black cargo pants, goggles, a long and thick black cloak and a set of curved daggers. From the way they had been curved the daggers looked slightly like a J on its side with the handle being the carved piece.

"I don't think so." Xander said, slightly annoyed that he had been brought to the back of the shop to look at so called new costumes when all he saw was a set of clothes someone like Larry would go out in. Getting ready to leave again Ethan grabbed hold of Xander's wrist to stop him from moving. Becoming more and more worried about just what was happening here Xander went to snatch his arm away but found the older man had a stronger grip then he would have given him credit for.

"That's not normal costume. That's the clothes worn by the last Furyan." Seeing that Xander was giving him a blank look Ethan inwardly grinned. _This could turn out better than I thought_. "Furyans were spiritual warriors that were nearly wiped out thousands of years ago. Stronger, faster, more agile, more durable, immense stamina and posses acute senses."

"Fine, I'll take it." Xander said hoping to make the over eager shop keeper shut up, to him the weird story he gave him about the costume sounded like a sci-fi movie and not an actual race of people. Walking back to the front of the store with Ethan, Xander waited while he bagged and charged for the costume that he'd be wearing for one night, and only for a few hours that one night. Turning around he saw that both Buffy and Willow were impatiently waiting for him holding their own costumes. Buffy obviously trying to impress Angel by wearing something from his time was holding an 18th century red dress which billowed out at the bottom, Willow being her shy self was holding a traditional ghost sheet costume. Sometimes Xander wanted to roll his eyes at his childhood friend, he knew about her crush on him and even if he didn't his conversation with Buffy the year prior when he was possessed by the hyena spirit let him know, despite not giving her any indication that he felt the same way he had no idea how she was hoping to gain his attraction if she kept covering herself up. Unlike Buffy who knew what she had and knew how to use her body to her advantage to get what she wanted.

"That'll be $25.99" Ethan said to Xander who had finally turned back around after he was lost in his thoughts looking at his two friends. Stopping himself from complaining about over charging him on a set of clothes that were somehow meant to be a Halloween costume he handed his money over and took the bag away before standing to the side to let Buffy and Willow pay. "My what a lovely dress." he said looking at what Buffy wanted to buy, "We'll certainly turn a few heads tonight wont we?" he asked giving Xander a look from the corner of his eye, thinking that the two of them were dating.

"Her boyfriend's older then she is and likes that type of thing." Xander said not being able to keep the bitterness out of his voice and getting an angry glare of Buffy when he had spoke. No matter how close the two of them were as friends they would always have problems regarding Angel.

"$49.99" Ethan said ignoring Xander's comment, he knew that Buffy was the slayer. How could he not, the fact that she was buying this dress would only increase the chaos for tonight. Stopping he briefly thought about the costume that the buy had bought but pushed it out of his head, whatever happened tonight would happen. He himself wasn't sure what effect his spell would produce on that costume, there were several ways that someone could interrupt what it was. Even if it did make the boy briefly become the last Furyan he doubted that he'd know who his friends were. "And a ghost," he finally spoke again when Willow walked up to him keeping her eyes down, "That'll be $9.99." neither Buffy or Xander was shocked that Willow's costume would be the cheapest out of the three when she had picked out a ghost sheet.

Looking at the bag that Xander was carrying Buffy couldn't help but wonder what he had bought, when he had returned from the back of the shop with Ethan, the shop keeper had already placed it in a plastic see through bag and put it down before charging Xander for it. All she knew about it was that it contained a lot of black, but that really didn't give her a lot of clues. How many Halloween costumes didn't have black him them?

Walking out of the shop Willow was nearly bubbling with excitement about what would happen that night. Xander could honestly say he would have been happier to not have to look after a group of children but if it got him out of his house and away from his parents then it was at least a little bit better.

"So, Buffy do you think that Angel will like your dress?" Willow asked looking at the slayer who was standing in the middle of the group, ignoring the snort that she heard come from Xander, Buffy turned to look at Willow with a small smile forming on her face as she thought about her boyfriend. The fact that he had thought of the plan to save her when she went to fight the Master at the end of last year only increased her love for the vampire.

"I hope so, I mean he's from that time and it cost me fifty dollars so he best notice it." She answered, Xander couldn't help glaring at Buffy when she was talking about Angel, part of him wanted to tell her who had really come up with the plan to save her in the Masters dungeon but he knew that she would never believe him and if she ever asked Angel he would act like Xander was lying to them. _He's from the 18th century, how can you possibly have a relationship with someone over two hundred years younger than you?_ To say he would look forward to the day when he could kill Angel would be an understatement. His darker side often told him to go to the vampires' house during the day and open up all of the blinds in there and watch him burn. While thoughts of seeing him die in front of him were entertaining Xander knew that it would destroy Buffy and in true Hell Mouth style she would somehow find out that it was him that did it. Not only would that mean he'd have no chance with the slayer but it would most likely cost him his life.

"Can't we have one conversation that doesn't go to the undead?" Xander asked not looking at the two of them, Willow sighed knowing full well that Xander would never be able to have a proper conversation with anyone regarding Angel and as it seemed his and Buffy's relationship was becoming deeper and deeper he naturally came up more. It also hurt her that he didn't seem to think of her as any more than a sister no matter what she did, his feelings for Buffy were open for everyone to see and unless she was blind or didn't want to lead him on Buffy didn't mention anything to Xander except for when he had asked her to the Spring fling. Even with her turning him down he seemed to be in love with Buffy.

"Well me and Willow want to have a conversation about my boyfriend, so if you don't then you can go on home and we might meet up with later on tonight." Buffy said placing her hands on her hips and setting her slayer glare on Xander who responded with his own glare at her. It seemed like neither of them where going to move at first, but in the end Xander turned away and started to walk ahead of them.

"Fine. I'll leave so you can talk about your necrophiliac ways." Seeing that Buffy was about to explode Willow grabbed her arm and led her in the opposite direction that Xander had gone in, in the hopes that she would be able to calm her down in the three to four hours that they had before they would meet him at her house. While she had to admit that the fights between the two could be funny to everyone else lately they were becoming more personal and in the heat of the moment there were often things said that had on numerous times proved to be hurtful.

* * *

Willow sat on Buffy's bed and watched as the blonde was pacing her room angrily. She had been like that ever since Willow had pulled her here and away from a fight with Xander. It was evident that his last comment had set her off. She really couldn't blame Buffy for being angry after Xander had called her a necrophiliac. Buffy hadn't said anything but instead fumed silently to herself, Willow knew that it wouldn't last and that Buffy would in the end explode and start her rant on how much of a jackass Xander was with Willow having to agree so she didn't bring Buffy's rage down on her. 

"Necrophiliac!" Buffy screamed thankful that her mum wasn't home right now and that she'd be out for the rest of the night. "How dare he call me that? You know he's jealous of Angel he has been ever since I started dating him." Buffy continued her rant as she walked a hole into her carpet. Willow wasn't really sure who Buffy was talking to but she made noises of agreement every now and again when she was looked at. Despite the fact that the argument would most likely be resolved tonight and forgotten tomorrow Willow listened as Buffy continued her rant about how much of a good boyfriend Angel was and that all of Xander's problems for him steamed from the fact that she turned him down for the Spring Fling.

Willow didn't know what to do so she sat there and let Buffy unload on her offering no words of agreement or disagreement anymore.

"And do you know what costume he bought?" Willow froze and stared at Buffy not completely sure that she had heard right. One minute she was complaining about him and the next she was asking what costume he bought at the shop. Shaking her head hoping that it was the right answer she was met with an irritated sigh. "The least he could have done was show us what he got, he knows what we bought. Is that so unfair?"

"Is what unfair?" a voice asked from outside the room. Slightly shocked Buffy turned her head to see her mum standing in the doorway to her room looking at her with what seemed to be a small smirk on her face. Buffy's heart stopped. Had she been out there the whole time and heard her rant? She knew the few times she had ranted to her mum about Xander she had put it down to attraction which Buffy denied passionately each and every time until she finally stopped telling her mum about her and Xander's fights.

"Buffy wants to see what costume Xander bought." Willow answered absently not catching the look that passed over Joyce's face as she looked at her daughter. Willow was at her happiest when Buffy was happy with Angel as it seemed to put a rift in-between her and Xander allowing Willow to try and take up all of his free time. So it was safe to say that she wouldn't have liked the smug grin that formed on Joyce's face as Buffy looked down at the floor.

"Why would you seeing Xander's costume matter so much?" she asked Buffy now walking into the room. This was the reason Buffy hadn't said anything, she knew that once her mum got an idea into her head it took a lot to get rid of it. She took after her mum in that regard.

"I don't care, I was just curious if he was going to buy something with a lot of colours and embarrass himself and us when we go out later on tonight." She replied happy that she could come up with a lie that quick and make it seem like the truth with her arrogance. Rolling her eyes Joyce left the room not saying anything to her daughter no matter how much she wanted to; even Willow looked slightly shocked at the shot Buffy had taken at Xander about his fashion sense or lack thereof. They all knew that Xander didn't seem to care about what other people thought about what he wore but she had never expected Buffy to say anything about it in the hopes of being a bitch.

"I really think Angel will like the dress." Willow said in the hopes that she could get Buffy in a better mood before they left. Once again the name of the vampire had the desired effects and a smile formed on Buffy's face as she turned to look at Willow.

* * *

**Sunnydale, 7:45 P.M**

Sitting on his bed in the basement Xander stared at his costume which he had tossed onto a chair he had stolen one night while his dad had been passed out and had never noticed was missing the next day. Part of him didn't want to go out tonight, still strung up from his fight with Buffy a few hours ago. No matter what he tried he couldn't help the anger that over took him whenever the vampire was mentioned. _Oh well, if she wants to be with a corpse that's her idea. Hmm I wonder if I could get him arrested for being with someone so much younger than himself._

Sighing he stood up and made his way to the chair and pulled of his shirt before putting the vest top on, it was slightly too big for him but he didn't think anyone would notice unless they got right in his face to check how good the top was on him. And if anyone did do that he'd be freaked out. Pulling the cargo pants on he felt that they were a better fit and started to look for his boots, going out in trainers didn't seem like the best idea with the costume he had. Next he pulled the goggles over his head and lowered them over his eyes, the two blades that come with the costume where already sheathed away on the back of the vest top. On the way out of his room he picked up the cloak and put it on noticing that it was huge but took it for granted that it was meant to be a lot bigger than the rest of the outfit to stop anyone from being able to see who was under it.

Making his way to Buffy's house he looked at all of the children that were going home. For one reason or another Snyder had phoned up the students houses and told them that the plan to take the children trick or treating had been cancelled. Even with no reason to go out more people had decided that they had paid good money for their costumes and they didn't have anything else to do so they would meet up with their friends anyway.

When he got to Buffy's front door Xander knocked on the small window in the middle panel hard. It seemed that he still had a bit of anger to work out of his system but he knew by the time the night was over he'd be fine again. He waited for a few seconds before knocking on the window a second time was hard as the first, it was then that he heard people running around inside the house to get to the front door, no doubt wondering who was hammering on it.

Throwing the door open Joyce stared out in shock at Xander. Well what Xander was wearing. Moving to the side to let his pass, her eyes followed him, she had never saw him without being in at least one bright colour and here he was dressed entirely in black. That wasn't to say it didn't look good, but it was a change and she didn't know why. Looking at the costume he was wearing she couldn't say that she had saw anything like it before, like Xander had originally thought it seemed like a normal set of clothes. It was then that she finally saw the goggles covering his eyes, she briefly wondered how he had made it to her house with them on but quickly realized that he must have only have put them on outside.

"So I heard you and Buffy had another fight today." Joyce said from her position on the couch as Xander leant against the wall opposite her. Giving her a barely noticeable shrug Xander wasn't in the mood to talk about his and Buffy's fight, he would rather put it behind him and move on, it wouldn't be possible to do that though if Buffy and Willow didn't hurry up so they could leave.

Before Joyce could say anymore she heard footsteps coming from Buffy's room and decided it would be best to keep quiet for now, she would be leaving herself not long after they did so she wanted to be able to get ready as soon as possible to get to the party at the gallery.

Walking down the stairs first Willow stopped when she saw Xander standing there, he looked nothing like her best friend and child hood crush. He was also wearing a costume that she would never have thought he would have on. He always seemed to be a happier person so to see him in black was a surprise. If she was shocked it was nothing compared to Buffy's reaction when she saw him.

Her heart jumped into her lungs as she recalled the last time that Xander wore dark colours he almost raped her in the teachers' lounge, something that she had trouble looking at him for a brief time after. What scared her about the incident was that Xander was stronger than her that night when the hyena spirit was in him, but the spirit only had Xander's muscles and strength to work with and she didn't know what that meant. A large part of her was glad that he didn't remember it because if she had trouble looking at him then she didn't want to know what he would have been like living with the knowledge that he almost raped the one person that meant the most to him.

Seeing Buffy in the dress Xander let out a long wolf whistle causing the slayer to blush even though she tried not to. When he had saw her holding the dress in the shop it looked like it would have been huge on her but it seemed to hug her figure and show her curves just the way her more revealing clothes did.

"Xander you look like you've just escaped from prison." Buffy said walking around him and lifting pieces of the cloak up, due to her enhanced vision she saw that his top was a little bit too big for him but it didn't hide the muscle that he had. Muscle that she had never noticed before.

"Well Buff if you want to perform a strip search to make sure I'm not carrying any weapons you can." Xander said to her making her step back and blush a bright red. Joyce couldn't help but laugh and smirk at that while Willow was left to seethe in her jealousy that Buffy was able to capture Xander's attention without trying despite the fact that they had been fight with one another only a few hours ago. "So we ready to leave then?" Xander asked looking at his two friends and getting nods in reply.

Walking in front of them he opened the door to let them out first showing that he did have manners even if he didn't always use them, not saying goodbye to Joyce the door was closed and the trio set off trying to find something fun to do in the cursed town. That in of itself was a hard thing to do when nothing good ever happened to Sunnydale and the only place to go was the Bronze.

Joyce sat there on the couch having observed her daughters reaction to Xander's obvious flirt. _If she doesn't do something with that boy that I'm going to have to say something to her. If only I was his age'._

* * *

Walking aimlessly down the streets of Sunnydale; Buffy, Xander and Willow couldn't find anything to say to each other and it left a horrible silence that had never been between the three friends. A silence that made it seem like a mistake to leave the house when they found out that they didn't have to look after anyone's children that night. 

"So where are we going?" Willow asked as she noticed that Buffy had somehow pushed her way into the middle of the three and was standing near enough on Xander's hip as she kept looking at him from the corner of her eye when she thought she couldn't be seen. _She must think he can't see her because of his goggles and I'm not looking._ "Buffy do you have an idea?" Willow asked snapping the slayer back to Earth and away from looking at Xander who kept his gaze forward as they walked.

"I suppose we cou-"Buffy wasn't able to finish her sentence as she collapsed to the floor followed by Willow in dead faints. Xander started to turn around to see if something attacked him when he felt pain lace through his body causing him to reach out and grab hold of the street sign next to him. He roared out in pain as it felt like his eyes were on fire beneath his goggles. If that weren't bad enough his body was tensing and un-tensing as his muscle mass and height grew. He felt a thin layer of sweat form on his as he started to shake from the pain, suddenly it felt like he was hit across the back of the head and all of the pain left his body.

Standing up straight he looked around him at his surroundings ignoring the two women on the floor. He had no idea where he was right now, the last thing he could remember was taking over the Necromonger fleet after he had killed the Lord Marshal and was going to prepare to go to the Under verse to bring Kyra back. Now he was in some unknown dark street, he saw if Aereon had something to do with this she'd wish he slit her throat the first time he met her.

Willow slowly pulled herself back to her feet keeping her eyes closed to try and fight off the nauseous feeling she was having right now. When she opened her eyes she almost passed out again as she stared down at her body that was under the ghost sheet, looking down at herself she saw that she was wearing the skin tight leather suit that Buffy had convinced her to get when she was at the costume shop. Speaking of Buffy she saw her friend was still knocked out on the floor five feet away from her and she had no idea why, worried she walked over to Buffy before she reached down at tried to shake her to see if she'd wake up. That was when her hand went straight through her friend. Terrified she pulled her hand back and fell over backwards in shock, realizing that she was being watched she looked up and saw Xander leaning against a street sign staring down at her with what looked to be an amused expression on his face.

Getting back to her feet she took a step towards him and realized that it couldn't have been Xander. He was slightly taller then what he had been seconds ago and he had a hell of a lot more muscle mass, in fact her jaw almost dropped when she saw how much. She had known that Xander had a fair amount of muscle for someone his age but for some reason he now looked like someone that spent the best part of five years working out.

"Xander what just happened?" she asked and was shocked when he turned away from her and looked at Buffy before looking back out at the street almost as if he was trying to figure out where he was and why he got there. She was about to ask what was wrong with him when she heard a faint moan, turning around she saw that Buffy was stirring and started to get to her feet. Walking away from Xander Willow knew that if anyone could have an idea about what had just happened it would be the slayer. "Buffy are you ok?" Willow asked and reached out to touch her friend but to only see her arm go through Buffy once again. Letting out an ear splitting scream Buffy looked like she was about to die as all the colour left her face.

"DEMON!" she screamed and ran through Willow before she hid behind Xander who was looking more and more amused by what was happening. The grin that he had on his face looked wicked and it gave Willow the urge to stay away from him, but she knew that these were her friends and it seemed like she was the only one who knew that fact.

"Buffy. I'm not a demon, I'm your friend, and I just want to know what just happened to us." Willow tried to say with a smile on her face which was pretty hard considering it looked like she was dead and Buffy and Xander had no idea who she was let alone who they were.

"Stay back demon, I'm warning you. Father will have you tortured and killed if you come near me." Buffy threatened from her position behind Xander, standing on her tip toes to see over his shoulder. If it were under different circumstance it would have been funny as all you could see of Buffy was the top of her head and these two wide green eyes staring at you. A car sped down the street causing Buffy to scream out once again in fear. "DEMON!" Xander spun around to see what she had thought was a demon and tilted his head as the car drove down the street. Buffy blushed as Xander stepped forward bringing her in contact with his toned chest.

"Buffy, that's not a demon it's a car." Willow tried to explain but to only have her friend whimper in fear and wrap her arms around Xander's stomach and under the back of his cloak and she buried her face in his chest.

"Make the demon go away." She begged Xander looking up at him with tears starting to fill her eyes; she frowned when she realized she couldn't see his eyes as they were hidden by a strange protective device she hadn't seen before.

"It must be some type of amnesia."Willow mumbled to herself as she looked at Buffy and Xander who still had his back to her with Buffy's arms around his waist. Every now and again she could she Buffy peek over Xander's shoulder to see if Willow was still there before hiding her face again.

"I don't know what that is, but I'm certain I don't have it. I bathe quite often." Buffy said sounding indignant. Her retort casued a deep laugh to break free of Xander as he kept his gaze forward over Buffy's head, for some reason he seemed to be the calmest one of the trio.

"I'll go find Giles he'll know what's happening." Willow said before she clicked that the two of them wouldn't know where to go. "There's a friend's house about twenty houses down the street go there." Not waiting for an answer Willow took off to find Giles leaving the two of them standing there.

Turning down the way Willow pointed Xander pried Buffy's hands off of him and set a fast pace causing her to jog to keep up with him.

"I'm Elizabeth Jackson." She said when she was able to walk along side him, Xander didn't make any sign that he had heard what she had said to him and being ignored was something she wasn't use to. She was about to repeat what she had said before Xander opened his mouth.

"Richard B Riddick." Was the short reply, but it seemed to please Elizabeth enough for now,

"Richard, do you-"

"Riddick." He said cutting her off, seeing her confused look his smirk reformed, "Just call me Riddick."

"Riddick then, would you know whose house we're going t. DEMON!" she screamed for the third time. Becoming annoyed with her screaming over nothing Riddick was going to ignore her but he heard grass being trampled and spun around to see what was coming at them.

He had never seen anything like this before in his life, its face was deformed; it had horrible dull yellow eyes and elongated canine teeth. The creature took a swipe at his chest causing him to arch backwards away from the attack and knocking his cloak off of his shoulders and to the floor. Keeping its attack up the creature kept swiping at his chest with what only seemed to be blind hope that it'd make contact with a swipe. Pulling one of his blades out of the sheath on the back of his top he dodged another attack before he leant towards the creature and with speed that would have been near impossible to see swung his blade neatly decapitating his attacker causing him to burst into dust.

Tilting his head to the side once again Riddick had seen and killed a lot of things but he had never saw something turn to dust after it. Pulling his goggles off to get a better look at his surroundings, his vision turned to his familiar pink/purple hue that coloured everything. Smirking he turned to get a better look at the girl that he was with. He could make out her curly hair that looked brown and she was wearing a long frilly dress.

Elizabeth was shocked at the death of the demon she had saw that was going to attack them. Looking at Riddick's back she could tell that he was a skilled fighter and he was very agile the way he was able to dodge the attacks. When he pulled off his goggles and turned around to look at her, her heart stopped as she saw his silver eyes. She had never known eyes to be that colour before, she was faintly aware that he was looking her over with a smirk on his face. She could tell it was a wicked smile and she was confused about what she should do. Her mind was telling her to run away from him as he was obviously dangerous, her heart was drawing her to him telling her that he'd protect her and her libido was telling her that he could fuck her every way possible and she should let him. She didn't have to choose what to do as Riddick bent down and picked his cloak up before he walked over to her and placed his goggles on the top of her head and started to walk away again.

Slightly shocked at what he had done Elizabeth stood there silently for a few seconds before she realized that he had started to walk away again and was leaving her there in the street. Chasing after him for a second time she kept reaching up to her head and touching the goggles that rested there with a confused look on her face. She kept giving him sidelong looks just to see his eyes, with no distinguishable pupils it looked like a circle of silver and she had no idea how he got his eyes that colour.

"What?" Riddick finally asked after the fifth time she looked at him, it was throwing him off his count of how many houses were left before they went in the one the ghost told them about, he guessed that there could only be another three or four but he wasn't too sure.

"Your eyes." Elizabeth replied making him stop and turn to face her, the faint lights from the houses they were going past reflected slightly off of them making it seem like there were shinning more than they were. "They're pretty." She added moving slightly closer to him and raising one of her hands to touch the side of his face. Stepping back Riddick moved out of her reach and turned to look at the houses about twenty feet away before he saw one with one lights on inside.

"This has got to be the one we were told about." He said walking over to him and jumping over the small gate, shocked at the slight rejection Elizabeth hung her head before she followed him into the house. She had no idea what she had done wrong.

* * *

"What was the costume shop you went to called?" Giles asked pacing his lounge; he nearly had a heart attack when he saw Willow run through his wall, thinking she was dead he was about to run and get whatever he had on exorcising a ghost before she started to tell him what had happened. Thankful that Willow was technically still alive he knew that the danger of what had happened could be much, much worse. 

"Ethan's costume emporium." Willow answer slightly angered that she couldn't sit down on anything and yet she could still run around of the floor. It made no sense to her at all, but it wasn't like anything that had happened so far made sense. "What is it Giles? Is it bad?" she asked seeing the look the watcher had on his face.

"Huh? No it's not bad. You go back and stay with Buffy and Xander while I go to the costume shop." Giles replied absently, hearing what she wanted Willow ran through the wall again and started to head in the direction of Buffy's house hoping that her two friends had gotten there alright. Giles had said he didn't have a clue to as what Xander had gone as so with the slayer out of commission they didn't know if he would be able to defend them.

* * *

Sitting on the couch in the lounge Elizabeth was pouting. It looked out of place as she had moved the goggles to her forehead. Throwing a look at Riddick, who was standing at the opposite side of the corner staring back at her. The street lights gave the lounge an eerie orange glow; add that to the fact that the only thing she could make out of Riddick except his outline was his eyes, she was slightly scared. She wouldn't tell him though; when they had first got inside the house and closed the door behind them she had started screaming about a trap and was pointing at everything saying it was a demon. When she saw that Riddick wasn't worried as she was, she told him that he had arranged this so he could have his way with her before asking to a ransom off her father. He laughed at the accusation which sent her into a flurry of rage and she had tried to starch, bite and slap him, to only being picked up and tossed onto the couch and told to stay there. Every time she tried to move he pushed her back down and then walked back to the opposite side of the room.

Laughing silently to himself Riddick couldn't believe her childish behaviour, the fact that he had saved her life and then she tried to attack him was one of the funniest things he had ever seen before in his life. But that wasn't saying much, there weren't many funny things in his life anyway.

He heard the soft click of the door in the kitchen being opened and slowly pulled one of his blades out from the sheaths again. From her position on the couch Elizabeth could see into the kitchen and saw someone moving around in there, whoever it was had saw her and quickly entered the lounge to find and blade at his throat. Shocked Angel turned to see who was there and why he hadn't been able to smell them from the kitchen.

"Whoah. Where do you think you're going?" Riddick asked looking at the intruder with distain, Angel couldn't believe that Xander would have the nerve to try and attack him with before sitting in the same room as them. He stared wide eyed when he saw the eyes staring back at him, he could see no emotion in the silver orbs and it worried him slightly.

"Get out of my way boy." Angel spat out and tried to his the arm and blade away from his throat, moving as quickly as he did outside Riddick pulled out the second blade and with a spin he slashed across the back of Angel's left knee making the vampire drop to the floor in pain. Hissing Angel couldn't believe it, he had only saw Buffy moved that fast and speaking of the slayer she hadn't moved from the couch were she was looking fearful at what was happening.

The next thing Angel knew was that he was being pulled to his feet and held up by whatever had taken over Xander as he was now sure this wasn't the same boy that forced him into the Masters Lair to save Buffy. Something if he had his way that the slayer would never find out.

Before Riddick could do anything else to Angel Willow ran in through the front door casuing Elizabeth to scream out again.

"DEMON!" shoving the injured vampire into the wall were he slumped down, his one good leg not being able to hold his weight, Riddick spun around with both blades ready to only see Willow standing there.

"Xander! What have you done to Angel?" Willow asked shocked as she walked over to her friend, raising his eyebrow Riddick walked past her and stood to the right of Buffy who looked ready to have a heart attack. He pulled the goggles off of her head and recovered his eyes with them before he collapsed onto the floor.

Angel sat there shocked as he had given up trying to get back to his feet just yet. He watched as Willow disappeared and Buffy slumped back against the couch. It only took a few seconds before he saw movement coming from the slayer and as she sat back up the brown wig she was wearing fell off of her head and into the seat next to her. He was more than aware that Xander hadn't woken up yet, but that wasn't what worried him. When he had the blade against his throat and had his hamstring slashed he had saw the muscle mass on Xander and it was a lot more then he had a few days again, but the problem was it wasn't fading like it should have been.

Groggily Willow pushed herself up from the floor. Moving her hands blindly as she kept her eyes closed, she had no idea why she could feel cold concrete beneath her instead of the thick carpet of Buffy's lounge. When she did open her eyes she saw that she was on her knees at the same spot she, Buffy and Xander had been in before she collapsed and was turned into a ghost. Slowly getting to her feet she picked her ghost sheet up and looked around to see if anyone had spotted her, thankful that they hadn't seen quickly made her way back to Buffy's house to see what condition her two friends were in.

Moaning quietly Buffy opened up her eyes and stretched her arms above her head to work out some of the kinks, seeing Angel slouched in the corner of the room shocked her almost as much as seeing Xander knocked out on the floor.

"Xander." Buffy shouted before jumping off the couch and kneeling next to him on the floor, shaking him slightly to see if he'd wake up, Buffy blushed slightly as her hands travelled over his muscles. Seeing this Angel tried to stand back up, barely making it to his feet he slipped and fell into the wall again gaining Buffy's attention. "Angel!" forgetting her friend on the floor for a second Buffy ran over to the vampire and helped him to his feet, that was when she saw the puddle of blood forming where he had been against the wall. She looked worried when she could see the back of his jeans matted to his leg and blood still pooling out. "What happened to you?" she asked, as soon as the question came out of her mouth images flashed in her head of Xander or Riddick as he was calling himself slash the back of Angels' knee. Helping the vampire to a chair Buffy walked back over to Xander and placed him on her couch before she stood in the centre of the room not knowing who to go to.

Hearing Xander moan in pain slightly her decision was made and she rushed to the kitchen before she returned with a wet clothe and placed it over Xander's forehead. With jealousy Angel watched as Buffy sat down next to Xander and pulled his head and shoulders into her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair almost absently as she looked him over waiting for him to wake up.

The front door slammed open and Willow ran into the lounge but froze when she saw how Buffy had positioned Xander, looking across at Angel she saw that the vampire was fighting off his own jealousy.

"Wills its good to see you're not all ghosty anymore." Buffy said to her friend not moving, narrowing her eyes Willow say that Buffy's hand was now running up and down Xander's chest but it seemed like the slayer had no idea what she was doing and was pretty oblivious to the looks she was getting from Angel and Willow.

"What happened to Xander? He was ok a few minutes ago." Willow said standing at Xander's feet trying to get as close to him as Buffy was and maybe have the slayer see what she was doing and go look after Angel. Being caught up in what she was doing Buffy paid no attention to Willow as Xander started to murmur to himself and began to stir. "He's waking up." Willow nearly shouted as if the other two occupants couldn't see this for themselves.

Opening his eyes behind the goggles he was wearing Xander could see Buffy's smiling face looking down at him in relief, he felt like he had just been hit by a truck. Pulling himself into a sitting position her flipped his legs off of the couch and onto the floor before he lifted his gaze to look at the injured vampire glare at him. Angel could have sworn he saw the ghost of a cocky smile when Xander saw that his leg was still bleeding but he didn't voice this opinion.

"Are you feeling ok Xander?" Buffy and Willow asked as he stood up and started to walk around the lounge to try and get rid of the pain that was still shooting through his body. Just nodding at them he noticed that the lights had been turned on, with his back turned to everyone he lifted up his goggles slightly but quickly lowered them again when he saw everything was bright white.

"I think I'll head on home." He told them as he picked up his cloak that had been draped over the bottom of the staircase, it was only then that Buffy and Willow saw the two blades sheathed on his back and like the rest of his outfit they were black except for the handles which looked to be a dull grey.

"You want me to help you?" Buffy asked watching him walk around, waving her off to say he'd be fine Xander placed the cloak around his shoulders and picked the hood up on it before he left the house and started his long walk home. It was only after Xander had left did it seem to click to Buffy that Angel had been there and injured, not knowing why she ignored her boyfriend and instead gave her friend all of her attention she turned to talk to Angel but saw that there was only a slightly bloody empty chair where he once was.

* * *

Slamming the door to the basement Xander threw the cloak to the chair that was next to his bed and pulled his boots off, followed by removing the blades from the back of his top. Running his finger across the blade and pulling it back to reveal blood told him that the blades hadn't been turned back to a prop like they had been at the start of the night. His vest top was taken off next and he didn't even notice that were it had been slightly too big earlier now it was extremely tight. Walking over to the mirror that hung above the makeshift sink he pulled the goggles off his head and hung them off one of the taps before he stared at his reflection. More importantly the two silver shinning eyes. Looking around his room he saw that everything had a pink/purple hue and he was able to make everything out with ease like you could on a sunny day. A wicked smirk formed on his face.

Riddick wasn't gone.


	2. Beautiful Eyes

**A/N: I'm using the fact that Riddick could tell that Jack was bleeding in Pitch Black and he saud that it had been a long time since he had smelled beautiful in COR for his ability to be able to smell Buffy's sent on him.  
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**A/N 2: I've realised that I have the habit of posting lots of stories up and then taking them down suddenly. I'm sorry for this, it's just that when I get an idea for a story I have to write it down. here's chapter 2.**

**A/n 3: Since I pretty much doubt anyone with Riddick in their head would go around in lots of bright colours, what style of clothing do you think Xander should take to wearing? Xander's change to be more like Riddick will happen over the next few chapters as I will push more of his personailty out as he becomes more cold and uncaring.  
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_Italics - thoughts_**  
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* * *

**Xander's house, 7:15 A.M**

Rolling over in his bed Xander groggily opened his eyes only to snap them back shut as the sun was coming through the window at the top of the basement and straight onto his face. Keep his eyes closed he slowly made his way over to where he had hung his goggles off the taps of his badly placed sink, putting them around his wrist he quickly got washed and brushed his teeth before covering his eyes with his goggles. He knew that this was going to take some getting used to. Looking over to his closet he walked over to it and threw the doors open as he felt the sun on the back on his neck, of all things that could happen to him; he has the attributes of a super killing machine that has light sensitive eyes allowing him to see in the dark, but he lives in Sunnydale. His eyes narrowed under the goggles when he saw that all was in the closet were bright coloured clothes. That wouldn't do. Pulling shirt after shirt out and tossing them to the floor, after a good five minutes of throwing things around he finally found a white t-shirt that didn't have six other colours on it, placing it on the bed he pulled his black jeans on from the night prior before putting the shirt on and then leaving the room with his boots in his hand.

The lounge was dimly lit to let him know that his parents were still in bed, he hadn't spotted them last night when he came home so he took that as they had been too drunk and wouldn't be up for a long time. He knew that he couldn't walk into Sunnydale High with a pair of goggles on his head and he wouldn't exactly be able to so everyone his eyes, laying on the coffee table in the lounge was a set of his dad's sunglasses, swapping them with his goggles which were put in his pocket he walked over to his dads wallet and took the thirty dollars that were still in it before he left the house.

Pushing the glasses against his face tightly to make sure they kept most of the sun out of his eyes he stared out at the street. Even with being washed he was still able to take out Buffy's scent on him from the night before, it had been all over his; head, face and chest when he had left her house last night and it was all he could smell but now it was watered down and just on the edge of his consciousness. Walking towards the centre of Sunnydale he knew that there were several shops that could be able to help him hide his eyes at least during school, he didn't care who saw them when he was out of school but knowing that Buffy, Giles and Willow would nearly go insane in they saw him with silver eyes was what gave him the incentive to do something.

A vicious grin formed on his face when he remembered what he had done to Angel, even with his vampire healing he doubted that he would be a hundred percent with having his hamstring cut last night. He came out of his thoughts when he saw that he was outside the magic box, standing in the shaded area by the window he took the sunglasses off of his face and looked inside, happy that there was someone already in there, he pushed the doors open and walked in with an air of self importance.

Standing at the till Sammy was about to tell whoever it was to leave as the shop wasn't open yet but the words died in her throat when she saw just who had walked in. Her eyes nearly popped out and she hoped that she wasn't drooling. She knew that she had to have been four years older than the male who was walking to her, but who really cared about age difference. The white t-shirt he was wearing to him seemed to be a second skin as it clung on him, her eyes trailed down his body as she was able to make out the muscle mass on him, when he walked past her counter to look at some ingredients she tilted her head to look at his ass, and then she was sure that she was drooling. It wasn't often she had people like him coming in here, usually it was old stuffy men who seemed to buy the strangest things and came off a creepy vibe that said, '_hello my pet.' _ Her heart nearly stopped when he spun around and stared at her, in the softly lit shop and without his glasses, Xander's eyes were clearly visible to Sammy at the counter who looked ready to hyperventilate.

"What do I need to create a glamour?" he asked staring down at her, he wasn't in the mood to be stared at like he was a piece of meat at the market and she want to buy him. From the glazed over look in her eyes he knew that she hadn't heard a word he had just said to her. Shaking her shoulder gently to snap her out of whatever R-rated fantasy she was living in right now he could have smiled when she blushed when she looked at him. "What do I need to create a glamour?" he asked again this time with a hint of annoyance in his voice, he hated being ignored and asking the same thing twice.

"For your eyes right?" she asked looking up at the silver orbs shinning back down at her, she didn't know why but it made it seem like he was looking right through her. Getting a nod in reply she quickly rushed around the shop to pick up whatever he needed to disguise his eyes while he waited as patiently as he could. Part of her told her to take as much time as possible to make him stay in the shop with her longer, turning to look over her shoulder at him she blushed when she saw that he was checking her out, catching his eye he winked at him before turning away. Xander looked away when she winked at him; he hated waiting for anything but watching the girl run around in a mini-skirt made it all better. "We could do this here." Sammy told him walking back with several items in her hands, "I mean I know to a glamour, but it would only last for about eight hours from now."

"Fine." Was the answer she got and her grin grew mischievous and she watched him sit down on the floor like she had, crossing her legs to see if he would look down she was pleased when he did and smirked at her shaking his head. So what if she was flirting outrageously with someone who looked about seventeen, she was pretty sure people older than her would do in the same thing in her position.

"You'll need to take your top off." She said looking down at the floor so he wouldn't see her grin, Xander tuned his head back to look at her, and he was able to make out the faint blush creeping up her neck from his pink/purple hued vision. Knowing what she was doing he pulled his shirt off and dropped in onto the floor by her feet as she continued to loom at the floor. Seeing the piece of fabric land by her, she could feel her heart speed up, acting like it was nothing she looked up at him and now wished she had told him he wasn't allowed to shop there unless he removed his top as soon as he walked in. Seeing his smug grin she knew that he had caught her staring but he didn't seem too bothered by it, in fact it seemed that he was amused by her. After ten minutes of whispering words and incantations under her breath Sammy watched in awe as his silver eyes changed colour to a deep brown, having never done this before she was shocked when it seemed like the colours pooled in from the corners of his eyes like someone had spilt water. Turning her head to look at the clock above the counter she was shocked to see that it was already 7:50.

Xander took that her turning her head meant the glamour was finished and had worked, picking his shirt back up he put it back on and watched as he saw Sammy walk back over to the counter. He wasn't too sure why he had taken it off just to amuse her, it was obvious it had been a lie but it had amused him to no end.

"The glamour will wear off about four in the afternoon, but should renew itself around this time in the morning," Sammy said looking over the book in front of her to see how much she should charge him for the ingredients and doing the spell. "That will be $25," she said looking at him as he put his sunglasses back on and looked ready to walk out the shop. Stopping in his tracks Xander let out a bark of laughter as he looked over his shoulder.

"I'm not paying." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, turning to walk back out the door shaking his head slightly he was once again stopped by her voice.

"Then can I give you my number, if you promise to call me?" she asked already writing it down on a piece of paper as she made her way over to him. Turning around to look at her Xander could see the beginning of a pout forming on her lips, holding his hand out he worried that her grin would split her head in half the way that it was forming. Leaning up Sammy quickly placed a kiss on his cheek before he left the shop. Giggling like a maddened school girl Sammy skipped back to her counter trying to figure out how to spend the rest of her day now. Then again from the images flashing in her head, she doubted that she would be able to do much except fantasies.

* * *

**Sunnydale High, 8:20 A.M**

Sitting on the bench she had been on the year before when Xander had asked her out Buffy sighed sadly, after Xander had left last night Willow had kept giving her dirty looks and making veiled hints that she was attracted to him. Buffy was only able to gasp in shock at that before she had said that she only viewed Xander as a friend, to this Willow had asked when she was rubbing her hand up and down Xander's chest and had his head in her lap. Buffy didn't have an answer for that and could only blush, that seemed to be the last straw for Willow who stormed out of the house nearly in tears. So Buffy was waiting for either friend so she could explain last night, she hoped that Xander didn't think that it meant she was in love with him.

"Oh god." Cordelia said looking towards the parking lot of the school, standing next to her was Harmony and the rest of the Cordite. Turning to see what they were looking at Buffy's jaw dropped, Xander was walking across the parking lot to her, but that wasn't why her jaw was now on the floor like the rest of the females that were watching him. The t-shirt that Xander was wearing allowed them to see the muscle definition that he had, and the fact that he was wearing a pair of tight jeans added to the enjoyment value of watching him. This was a definite change from Xander's usual clothes that consisted of lots of bright colours that were hard to look at sometimes. He was also carrying himself with an air of confidence that was missing from the day before.

"So how's my height challenged gorgeous friend today?" Xander asked sitting next to Buffy and wrapping his arm around her, for her part Buffy's mind was having trouble working past, '_Looks good. I want'_ realising that he had just asked her a question Buffy tried her best to come up with an answer and hope it was the right one as she hadn't heard what the question was.

"Hehe, you're Xander." Buffy giggled looking at him, the smirk that formed at the corner of his mouth as enough to tell her that she just made herself seem like an idiot. Mentally slapping herself when Xander started to laugh at her, she quickly heard though that it wasn't a 'You're an idiot laugh' it was a deeply amused laugh.

"Xander, looking hot." Harmony said from her spot at Cordelia's side, who seemed to be having the same problem that Buffy was, she was now on the receiving end of two murderous glares. "If you're free later maybe you could come to the Bronze." The glares from Buffy and Cordelia that were directed at Harmony now turned to Xander to see what he'd say to her. Knowing that he was going to annoy at least one person with his answer Xander decided to keep his mouth closed and walked into the school. He was certain of one thing and one thing only; this was going to be a long day.

Seeing that he had sometime left before lessons started Xander walked towards the library, hoping that Giles wouldn't turn into a blushing bumbling mess when he saw the change that had happened to him. Pushing the doors open he took his sunglasses off, if he kept his back to the windows there wouldn't be a problem as there wasn't a need to have any lights on in the school during the day. Walking towards Giles' office when he heard whispering in there he stood shocked when he saw that Jenny was in there with Giles and they seemed to be having a problem keeping their hands off of each other. Like teenagers. Clearing his throat brought them out of their hormonal state and turn to him blushing.

"Xander, good lord, what happened to you?" Giles asked this casued Xander to look over himself to make sure that he didn't look like he had just been dragged through a bush. Seeing his confused look Giles sighed, "Since when have you been so..."

"Juicy." Came the answer from the doorway, turning back around to see who was there, Giles could only raise his eyebrow at his slayer who didn't seem to hear what she had just said. Jenny for her part looked as amused as Xander did using her hand to cover her mouth. Walking around her friend like a lioness stalking her prey Buffy's smirk grew looked almost primal, Jenny looked at Giles who didn't seem to notice as he was still shocked by the fact that Buffy had called Xander juicy, Xander on the other hand did notice and was watching Buffy carefully.

"I don't think that juicy is the word I'd use to describe Xander." Giles said dryly, he looked around wondering why no one had given him a reply but saw that both Xander and Jenny were watching as Buffy continued to circle Xander. The slayer in her was screaming that he would be a strong mate, and right now Buffy's rational side couldn't find a problem with Xander being her mate. "Don't you have lessons to go to?" Giles asked looking at Buffy carefully who was still watching Xander as he left the library. Either not wanting to answer Giles or just not listening Buffy bounced out leaving a confused Giles and a laughing Jenny standing there.

"I can't believe that she's lusting after Xander." Jenny said still laughing to the horror of Giles. He stared at the doors wide eyed as that thought seemed to be the worst one in the world to him. 'Buffy lusting after Xander.'

Walking towards his seat near the back of the class Xander saw Larry glaring at him, the day before he had asked him what he thought his chances were of him getting with Buffy, and now having the small blonde in question staring up at him like he was a god among men wouldn't sit well with Larry.

"Harris, I thought I told you yesterday to leave the lady alone, so do it." He said standing up and giving Xander a push in his chest, most of the class turned around to see what was happening between the two. They had known that Larry had pushed Xander around for most of his time at the school and he never did anything about it.

"Larry, like I told you yesterday, you don't have a chance." Xander replied and gave the quarter back a push of his own and smirked when he saw him stumble. Enraged at stumbling Larry glared at Xander and swung his fist; if Buffy hadn't gotten involved yesterday he would have pounded this little shit into the floor. His eyes widened when Xander turned his body out of the way of the punch with ease, Larry couldn't believe it he was only standing less than six feet away how could he have missed. Placing his foot under the seat of the chair Larry had been sitting in Xander flicked it into the jock's face before he walked past him and to his seat.

"Xan how did you do that?" Buffy asked looking stunned, she had known him for little over a year know and he had never shown the ability to fight or defend himself all that well. Smirking at her Xander shook his head and turned to face the front of the class, he knew that she wouldn't let this drop just yet but he wasn't in the mood to have to come up with some type of excuse about it. Somehow, 'I've kept all the knowledge and abilities of whatever possessed me last night,' didn't seem like the best thing to say. Her reaction wouldn't be all that good and he didn't want them to try and undo it, he liked feeling strong and there was no way that he was going to let them take that away from them. Frowning he noticed that the sun coming through the windows was aimed directly at him, everything was white with a faint pinkish outline that showed there were other people in the room with him.

Buffy kept looking to Xander seeing that he was narrowing his eyes as he tried to copy what was being placed on the board at the front of the room, he seemed to be having a problem that the sun was in his eyes, something that she had never noticed effect him before.

"Are you ok Xan?" Buffy asked watching her friend continue to try and see what he was meant to write down in his book, turning to look at the small slayer Xander nodded and smiled before staring back at the front on the class before picking one of his hands up to cover his face from the sun. "Here." Buffy said moving closer to him so he could read from her book instead of struggling to try and look at the front of the class. Smiling his thanks Xander turned to look at Buffy's book as he copied what she had written down, while she wasn't the best of students he knew that somehow she was able to get better marks then he had.

Once again Buffy took this time to observe her friend; she didn't think that he was always as well built as he seemed today otherwise he wouldn't have walked around in his baggy clothes. She blushed slightly when she realised that she was checking him out, but then couldn't find a problem with it, once again the slayer part of her mind was telling her to move in on Xander and have him for herself, unlike earlier though her rational part reminded her that she had Angel who she was in love with. _'Why settle for the vampire when you can have the best, who is sitting right there.'_ _'I love Angel, and I don't feel that way about Xander' 'Then just why are you checking him out?'_ snapping back to the real world Buffy wondered just how healthy it was to have a question asked to you by your subconscious and not be able to answer it. No one seemed to see that she had been staring at Xander and right now she wanted to keep it like that. So far she hadn't seen Willow around but she didn't want her to find out that she had been having lusty thoughts about the guy she was in love with.

* * *

Willow sat in the canteen upset, lunch had started twenty minutes ago and she couldn't believe that Buffy and Xander hadn't turned up yet, more than that she couldn't believe the way that Buffy was acting to Xander last night. _'It was like she has feelings for him. HOW DARE SHE! He's mine, she just shows up and he drops to his knees for her.' _Willow knew that Buffy was aware of her feelings for Xander, so she couldn't understand why she would act like she too had feelings for him. _'Why can't she just let me have him.'_ it didn't seem to enter into her head that Xander didn't have any feelings for her except for friendship, she was so sure that Buffy was the reason that Xander wouldn't look at her. To make things even worse she had heard about the way that Cordelia and her friends were talking about Xander, it seemed like she had entered a world where everyone thought Xander was the best male and they all wanted him.

Hearing a squeal she turned around and glared when she saw that Xander was carrying Buffy over his shoulder like a cave man with the slayer playfully pounding his back as she tried to get him to put her down. Turning his head to the left slightly, Xander was met with Buffy's ass shaking about as she tried to climb down his back; it had to have been one of the best things he had seen in his short life. Then again his memories from Riddick were all about death, pain, loss and prison so there wasn't much worse than he could get then that. He had noticed that he seemed to have developed more of a blood lust and a like for fighting, he had thought it had just been the costume last night, but like the memories, the eyes, strength, speed, and muscle mass it hadn't gone away. Rubbing Buffy's ass slightly a wicked grin formed on his face as he gave it a sharp slap.

"Xan-DER!" Buffy screamed in embarrassment, her face was bright red when he finally put her back on the floor and she had to turn away so she didn't see his grin. She couldn't believe that he had just done that, and to the laughter of the canteen a lot of people thought that it was funny. Seeing Willow glaring at her from her seat, swallowing slightly Buffy walked over to her not before shooting Xander a look that said he was in trouble for what he had done. Looking towards his childhood friend he couldn't believe the jealousy that was showing in her eyes, he had never once shown an interest in her since they were children so he didn't know why she got so upset that he paid an interest to other people.

"That looked like fun." Willow said bitterly glaring at Buffy and Xander, the former looked apologetic while the latter looked indifferent to her being upset. It was something that Buffy saw as well and shot him a confused look, she couldn't understand why he looked like he didn't care if Willow was upset, and he actually seemed bored by her right now. "Do you like doing things like that?" Willow asked Buffy staring at her, she knew that the slayer could tell she was hurt and she wanted her to feel as bad as possible about doing it to her.

"Willow it was just a joke, Xan just spun around and picked me up." Buffy tried to explain to her friend, she wouldn't admit that it was fun because she knew that it would just start a bigger fight between them. She had done nothing that she could think of to have Xander act like this towards her, but she knew that Willow expected her to act like she hated it and that would hurt Xander deeply. That was something she just wouldn't do, he was her best friend and he had saved her life at the end of her first year here. _'And how did you thank him? By embarrassing him, in the Bronze in front of Angel, Willow and most of the school.'_ Buffy now felt bad for a different reason, she had never actually shown Xander that she was thankful that he had saved her life.

"Why are you explaining yourself to her?" Xander asked suddenly causing both of them to stare at him in shock, "We didn't do anything wrong." Not waiting for a reply off either of them Xander spun around and left the canteen not aware of the number of eyes that were following him having watched the conversation between the three.

"Xander." Buffy called hoping for him to stop so they could talk about this properly but he kept on walking around left his two friends staring at where he was in shock and surprise. It was very rare for Xander to lash out at anyone, he was the person that kept quiet and popped a joke when thing got rough. Buffy turned to look at Willow whose jaw had dropped to the floor when Xander had said they had done nothing wrong. She wouldn't say it to Willow but she agreed with Xander, they hadn't done anything wrong, he wasn't Willow's property and yet she kept on acting like he was. At first she thought it was sweet that Willow had a crush on Xander even if he didn't know, but as time went on it seemed that he did in fact know about it and it seem clear to everyone except Willow that he didn't and wasn't going to return her feelings.

"This is your entire fault." Willow said bitterly looking at Buffy, who had once again turned to look at where Xander had gone, looking back to Willow with a bemused look on her face, the red head continued. "You just show up and he falls in love with you. Even when you knock him back for the Spring Fling. He was mine until you came here." Buffy's expression had turned from not understanding what Willow was talking about to one of anger at what was being said.

"My fault. I'm pretty sure that Xander has made it clear time after time he doesn't share your feelings. Yet you always get upset when he pays attention to someone else, he's not your boyfriend Willow and from the way things look he won't ever be." Buffy said angrily, she knew that it was wrong to say that to the normally mousy red head but she wasn't about to stand there and be blamed for the fact that Xander didn't feel the same way about her. Walking off in the same direction that Xander had gone Buffy left a now enraged Willow sitting in the canteen, she was looking ready to either kill Buffy or break down in tears.

_'My fault, just who does she think she is. The time I've saved her, and she blames me because Xander doesn't like her. I didn't have to be her friend and yet I did because it was the right thing to do.' _Buffy stormed down one of the corridors not looking where she was going and walked straight into someone,

"Any reason for attacking me Buff?" Xander asked looking down at her amusement on his face, he had seen her walking down the corridor but she had been in the middle of her self rant. Buffy looked up at Xander and was ready to apologise to him that was before she saw that he had been carrying a bottle of water and it had been spilt on his shirt. Slightly dazed she tilted her head to the side now that the wet parts of his shirt were sticking to him; almost on instinct she reached out and placed her hand over the wet spot on his shirt. _'Boy strong. I want boy.' _Watching Buffy Xander could honestly say he had no idea what was going on, she had a dazed look in her eye that he hadn't seen before, not given directed to Angel. "Are you ok Buff?" Xander asked which snapped her body out of the action of being ready to jump him in the middle of the corridor. Blushing slightly she snatched her hand back off of his stomach and looked at the floor. _'His feet are big, hehe I wonder what else is. Bad Buffy, you cant have a fantasy about the size of certain parts of our Xander shaped friend.'_

"I'm ok Xan, it's just that thing with Willow and walking into you, the fact that your shirt is wet and you have a six pack." Her mouth slammed shut when she realised that her mouth was saying that her brain was thinking. Looking up at Xander, who was smirking at her obviously waiting for her to finish her sentence. _'I wonder what he'd do if I'd... Bad Buffy, there will be no jumping of the Xander. Unless he asked me to then it'd be wrong to say no, not to mention rude.'_

"You know f you're going to stare at me I think it's only fair if you take off your shirt so I can stare at you." Xander joked, _'hear that, the shirt's coming off.'_ Buffy stopped her hands from actually doing it, she was shocked at how much the voice in her head was telling her it wanted Xander, and it was making her body react to him as well. This wasn't good, she needed Giles.

"Oh you'd love to see me shirtless wouldn't you?" she asked looking at the grin that formed on Xander's face, it looked like he was about to get all of his Christmas presents at once if she would take her shirt off. "I'm not going to take my shirt off Xan." Buffy said and started to laugh when she saw him pout at her. He was trying his hardest to look like a kicked puppy and dam it, it was working.

"I'll take mine off if you take your off." Xander said with a straight face, Buffy stared at him not actually believing that he would removed his shirt, that was until he grabbed the bottom of it and looked ready to pull it off. _'Take it off, in a second just rip it right off of him'_ Buffy's eyes went wide when Xander's shirt start to travel up his stomach, her eyes were glued to the flesh that was being revealed to her.

"Mr Harris."

* * *

Buffy was sitting in the middle of the library with; Angel, Giles, Jenny and Willow. The vampire was walking with a limp as he circled the room telling them that he had found a warehouse that a group of vampires who were loyal to Spike where staying in. They were going to hit it as soon as the sun went down so Angel could go with them. Try as she might Buffy wasn't able to concentrate on what was being said to the group. Her mind obviously thought it would be fun to keep replaying what had happened at lunch between her and Xander, she couldn't believe that he had started to take his shirt off in front of her and she hadn't been able to look Jenny in the eye since, she had been the one that had caught him but hadn't said anything about it. Buffy was shocked that she hadn't said anything about it, instead she kept dropping small hints about it but only Buffy knew what she meant.

"Buffy are you ok?" Giles asked, "You look like you've seen something you rather enjoy." Jenny covered her mouth to hide her laughter but Buffy just nodded her head to say she was ok and tried to stop all thoughts about a topless Xander entering her head. Looking at her watcher's girlfriend, she quickly adverted her head so she wouldn't be tempted to start giggling. "Does anyone know where Xander is?" Giles asked, at first he thought that he was just going to be late, but now it seemed that he wasn't showing up at all.

"I think he said something about rehearsing for a song, he's singing 'I'm too sexy for my shirt'. Jenny couldn't help it as she burst into hysterics and Buffy had to hide her face as it went bright red as she too was laughing. The other three in the room didn't know what was so funny and stared and Buff and Jenny with confused looks, Angel merely snorted as they talked about Xander.

"It's a good thing he isn't here, he'll just get in the way." All humour left as they stared at Angel, the hatred between the two was known from the day they had met. Jenny and Giles looked at each other not sure what to say while Buffy glared at her vampire boyfriend, despite not having any powers or training Xander had gone out nearly every night with her on patrol, he knew the dangers of going an yet he still did it.

"I think we should leave." Giles said hoping to avoid any type of fight that could start between the group. From the way Buffy was looking it was going to be harder then he thought to do so.

* * *

Xander stood outside the warehouse where he had saw a number of vampires enter. He had the hood on his cloak down and his goggles sitting on the top of his head, his two blades where once again sheathed on the back of his top. He had been worried that the glamour wouldn't leave his eyes at four but he had waited by the mirror and watched as it did. It was a strange sight watching the brown in his eyes slowly being replaced by silver and it held no pain unlike when it had happened at Halloween. Knowing it wouldn't be a good idea to walk in the front door he used the broken piece of ladder and started to climb up towards the open window.

Standing in the shadows he could make out a group of vampires near the back of the building, how many where there, he couldn't tell. Using the wooden beams that spanned the width of the building Xander leapt across and started to make his way towards the vampires, they'd have no idea what hit them when he dropped down from above. He had only made it halfway across the room when he heard a car pull up outside the building; turning to look back to the vampires he saw that they hadn't heard anything being too far away from the window.

Buffy jumped out of the car and walked towards the doors of the warehouse, she had brought a bastard sword with her as well as her stakes, Jenny, Giles and Willow all had crossbows and bottles of holy water while Angel had said that he would only need two stakes to help them. It seemed that he was trying to act like he was the best one there when he had refused any other weapons. It was great for him to only say he needed stakes but if he lost them then he wouldn't have any type of weapon and the mood Buffy was in from his jab about Xander just getting in the way, there was no chance he was getting her sword.

"So this is it?" Buffy asked looking at the closed fire doors, she was confident about her abilities with fighting vampires but she had no idea just how many there were going to be in here and that worried her slightly. Angel stood next to her and had no idea why she hadn't gone in yet. He solved that problem though by kicking the doors open with a loud crack.

Xander had finally made it across to where the vampires where and had both his blades out ready to drop down and start beheading them, that was until the doors were kicked open and all of the attention was focused on the five figures standing in the doorway peering through the dark trying to see just what was there. Xander could tell exactly who was there and growled, trust Angel to ruin this, he could see that Buffy was staring at him but he wasn't able to hear what they were saying. Looking down he saw that the vampires where making their way towards the door and he knew he had to act.

Dropping down from the beam he had been perched on he quickly decapitated the nearest vampire without a sound, there were another none to kill and some of them had shot towards the group in the doorway. He slashed the hamstring on another vampire and killed it as it screamed out in pain. They yell casued the rest of the undead to spin around and attack Xander that was the ones that hadn't rushed towards Buffy and the rest of the group.

Ducking under one punch, Xander slashed the arm of another vampire which tried to attack him, when it drew its arms back Xander sprung forward slashing across its throat turning it to dust. There were only another two vampires by him the other five had to have been at the other side already and there was no way he could risk going after them now. The third vampire pulled a small blade out from its sleeve and looked ready to attack Xander, it never had the chance to blink though, going into a back flip Xander kicked the blade out of the vampires hand and caught it before it hit the floor. Using the smaller weapon he threw it at the vampire and watched as it embedded itself in the things head, like the other vampire he slashed its throat and watched it turn to dust. The final vampire looked terrified by this and couldn't even move, silver eyes met yellow ones as Xander pounced at the vampire like a tiger, pinning him to the floor with his blades he ripped one up the creatures chest before killing it.

"What was that?" Buffy asked hearing the scream of pain coming from further in the warehouse, no one had time to answer her though as five vampires appeared from the darkness. Buffy nearly snorted in anger, Angel had acted like this was a huge mission and yet she could take on these by herself. With Jenny, Giles and Willow firing bolts from behind her Buffy quickly moved forward swinging her bastard sword as she cut down the vampires. Angel could only stare as the five wer cut down and Buffy was left without a mark.

"We should find out what else is here." Giles said from behind her as she glared at Angel who looked confused. He knew that there should have been nearly double that number of vampires here, not being able to look Buffy in the face he let her lead them further into the warehouse.

"That was impressive mate." Turning around from watching the group come closer to him Xander saw Spike staring at him with a smile on his face. "I haven't seen any human move like that to kill vampires before," he took a step towards Xander and his smile grew when he saw the silver eyes glaring back at him without emotion. "Then again you're not exactly human now are you?" Xander's hands tightened over his blades as he looked back over his shoulder to see them coming closer, looking as well Spike's smile dropped from his face, this wasn't what he needed right now. "You don't want them to find this out; I don't want to be killed."

"What do you suggest?" Xander asked looking back at Spike, the vampires smile reappeared when he heard that he wasn't going to have to fight Xander.

"I'll go out the back, you go high." Not waiting for an answer Spike rushed off into the darkness leaving Xander there. Looking back over his shoulder Xander run towards where the beams connected to the wall and started to climb up the frame, next time he saw Spike he was going to kill him. Only just being able to get back to where he had started when the group was stood underneath him Xander let out a small breath of relief.

Buffy looked down at the small clumps of dust that was on the floor as well as the small knife that was on top of one of them. She was sure that these must have been vampires, feeling like she was being watched she turned her head to the side and looked at the far wall before lifting her gaze up. Her eyes went wide when she saw someone standing on the beams looking back down at her; all she was able to make out was that it looked like a male with the size of their body and two silver eyes staring down at her.


	3. So close yet so far

Using her own abilities to force herself up Buffy leapt onto the beams that were running across the top of the warehouse unaware of the shots from Jenny and Giles while Angel and Willow merely watched her go. Having already started to leave Xander spun back around upon hearing the yells and saw Buffy now standing a god ten feet away from him which was roughly four beams, not wasting anytime he shook his head at her before turning around and leaping from beam to beam on his way back to the window to escape with the slayer following behind him.

"Go!" Giles ordered watching the two leap across the beams to the exit, Angel was the fastest to react and began to run back to the door they had kicked open only a few moments ago hoping that he'd be able to catch whatever was up there if Buffy didn't. Smirking Xander didn't take the chance of turning back to see how close Buffy was knowing it wouldn't be the smartest idea he would have, the smile vanished however when he saw that the window he had came in through was only slightly open as he had closed it behind him earlier. His eyeshine sight allowed him to see Angel run out quickly followed by Giles and then Jenny and Willow, landing on the small piece of metal railing Xander leapt once again shattering the glass window as he went through it brining his arms up to cover his face slightly. Having more weight than he had only a few days ago he was shocked by just how agile he was and the fact that he hadn't dropped straight down, a small dumpster outside the warehouse acted as his landing mat, the force of his body smashing into it casuing a large indentation. Bouncing off of it he saw Angel standing there ready to stop him from getting any further with the slightly out of breath watcher aiming a crossbow at him, hearing a lighter thud coming from behind him signalled Buffy being out of the warehouse.

"What are you?" he heard Giles ask, smirking he was glad that the hood on his cloak was blocking his face from their view no doubt knowing they would act like there was something wrong with him if they knew. Buffy's sword being unsheathed was what he was waiting for, running towards the exit of the alleyway which was were Angel was standing Xander bend his body slightly and grabbed hold of the vampires quad before tossing him over his back and continuing his escape as he heard the commotion from his quickness when they thought they had him.

As the vampire got back to his feet Buffy stared at where the figure had run off across towards the park almost like the traffic hadn't been there as he had weaved through it.

"Well that wasn't good." Jenny said only now stepping forward with Willow though she had to fight the smile forming as she had watched Angel get dropped on his back with ease. Willow looked at Jenny for the comment as did both Angel and Giles the former more so of a glare while the latter looked like they shared the humour slightly. Looking towards the blonde slayer Angel walked over to Buffy and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You ok, Buffy?" he asked worriedly, the two of them hadn't been on talking terms since his off comment about Xander earlier in the day and since it was possible to blame him for the escape just then he didn't know what Buffy was going to be like around him right now. Almost coming out of a daze Buffy turned to look at her boyfriend's worried expression and tried to put a smile on her own face and she started to walk out of the alleyway.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked before leaving the foursome there watching her leave them, none of them were aware of the blonde vampire watching them with a smile on his face.

Spike had been shocked when Xander had agreed to let him go inside the warehouse instead on fighting him but it seemed that his secret was more important to him at that minute in time then stopping the master vampire from causing any trouble for the slayer and her friends, he also knew that this meant he would owe the whelp at a later date and even if he didn't have a soul there was a good chance that he would help him if he could.

* * *

Quietly opening the door to his parents house Xander peeled the cloak off of his body and held it in one hand as he looked at the small slits on his forearms caused from the shattered glass from the window, while Ethan had said that Furyans healed faster than humans would the thin cuts seemed to cause more pain than they should have. Goggles resting on the top of his head Xander opened the door to the basement and walked down the stairs leading to his bedroom or what his drunken parents called a bedroom thinking they had done him a favour by giving him it. Draping the cloak over the back of the chair and placing the goggles on the seat along with the blades Xander sat down on his bed with his back to the wall, he had no idea how he was going to keep his secret just that, he knew that Angel would now be out for any info on him to try and recover his pride he only hoped the vampire was as dumb as he thought and didn't put it altogether if he hadn't already. The only other person that might remember his silver eyes was Willow; Buffy like him had been under a spell on Halloween so he doubted she'd remember anything about that night. Their reactions at school had been funny to watch, but he doubted that it'd stay that way for long.

* * *

Buffy sat in the library the following morning still aware that Willow had been jealous about the interaction between her and Xander the day before, thinking about her male best friend brought back what Angel had said about him just getting in the way the night before and with it a flare of anger. Flushing slightly she remembered when he was about to take his shirt off and the excitement as well as lust that had followed through her at the thought of it, it was the same type of confidence he had shown when he had been possessed by the hyena that had called out to the slayer in her and she could only hope that he wasn't possessed once again.

"Buff, you're here all alone?" Xander asked walking into the library; Buffy's attention went to her friend as soon as she heard his voice as she was shocked that he was once again wearing only one colour in his shirt, this time it being dark blue. She noticed that without his multi coloured clothes he looked more mature and older then he should be. Squinting against the light that was coming in through the library windows Xander stood in front of Buffy as she swung her legs back and forward edging closer to Xander as she was sitting on the table. "You have fun last night?" he asked turning his head towards Giles' office noticing that the watcher wasn't there at all, it was strange that Buffy of all people would be in the library by herself, she was a lot like him in that regard were she wouldn't go there unless she had to.

"Nope, no fun. I had to patrol with Angel, Giles, Willow and even Miss Calendar." Stopping Buffy frowned thinking back to what had happened after the small fight with the vampires, "There's something new in Sunnydale, it tossed Angel over its shoulder with ease trying to run away from us." She didn't miss the smile that formed on Xander's face when she mentioned Angel getting beaten and tried to look annoyed but failed. Slapping him lightly on the chest she smiled as she watched the grin get bigger on Xander's face, before Xander could reply to what she had said the doors to the library swung open once again and this time Jenny and Giles walked in deep in conversation.

"I just don't see how something that can take on vampires, let alone throw Angel over its back like that doesn't leave a trace behind. No one in Sunnydale knows what it was." Giles said stopping next to Buffy and Xander looking annoyed that he still didn't know about the new player, Buffy tried to look innocent when Giles turned to her knowing that he would have expected her to track it down or at least try when she left, it was only Jenny that caught the smug smile on Xander's face when Giles was talking and the shine in his eyes.

"So Angel got his ass kicked, not the first time and probably not the last." Xander said with no small amount of humour or happiness in his voice, he was finally glad that he could put the vampire in his place and he wouldn't have a problem making sure he stayed away from Buffy if he had to.

"If something can beat Angel, Xander then Buffy will have to be careful when she's on patrol in case it comes after her as well." Giles said rolling his eyes knowing full well the rivalry between the teenager and the vampire over Buffy's feelings and for once he wished that he wasn't so immature when Angel had proven to be a necessary member of the group. Xander wanted to laugh at the comment of him hurting Buffy but instead showed that he had the ability to open his mouth without thinking about what he was going to say,

"But he didn't last night, I mean he had the chance before he took out Angel and he just left." The odd looks he received confused Xander for a second before Buffy jumped in front of him her eyes demanding an explanation while Jenny raised an eyebrow wondering just how Xander knew that.

"How do you know what happened or that it was even a he?" Buffy asked putting her hands on her hips, Xander's eyes widened slightly as he realised his mistake and looked between the three trying to come up with an answer that would be good enough for them. Turning to look at Jenny and then Giles Xander was determined in not looking Buffy in the eye worried that she would see everything hidden under his faux brown eyes. Often being quick witted and coming up with something to say when it wasn't needed Xander found himself unable to think of a lie to tell them.

"I phoned him last night to let him know you were ok Buffy." Jenny said seeing something in Xander's eyes that he wanted to keep secret from the slayer, this took the attention away from the teen and towards the teacher allowing Xander to smile his thanks to her while their backs were turned. "Haven't you two got lessons you need to go to?" she asked for the sake of avoiding getting asked anything by the slayer before she turned and left the library herself closely followed by Xander who didn't want to spend any more time with either Buffy or Giles at that minute.

"She's lying." was all that Buffy said before following her friend out wanting to know just what Xander was hiding from her and just why Jenny was helping him, Giles could only stand there with a look of confusion washed across his face as he turned to the door watching it sway back and forth. He would have to have a talk with Xander later on.

Only just noticing that Willow wasn't at school when he arrived in his class Xander looked around for a familiar face to sit next to but found none as he made his way towards the back of the class, unlike the day prior Xander sat on the opposite side from the windows this time allowing very little light to hit his eyes that would cause problems with his sight. The door swung open and Larry walked in with his usually strut acting like he owned the school which could have been true as he and Cordelia seemed to have the most say in what went on, at least with the students anyway.

"Harris, just the guy I was looking for." Larry said sitting in front of Xander and turning his chair around so he would be able to have the conversation that had been on his mind since Halloween, "I need you to find out if Summers wants me." He continued watching as the teacher went around the class handing out all of the work, looking at the pieces of paper that had been put on his desk he folded them up and put them in his pocket already thinking of finding a geek to do it for him with the promise of them not getting pounded to a pulp for the week.

"I already know she doesn't want you." Xander answered not looking up from the work, his near slip in the library was weighing on his mind and he wasn't in the mood to entertain Larry right now especially about Buffy. "She never has and she never will want you either so just give up." Xander continued hoping to end the next line of the conversation before it left Larry's mouth. A look of rage flashed over Larry's face as he moved his chair closer to Xander's desk and pulled the papers off of it and on to the floor getting him to look up.

"Did you just say what I think you did?" he asked Xander in disgust, the now Furyan souled teen could feel his blood boil at the fact that Larry thought he could threaten him in any way. "Do you want me to end you Harris?" Larry asked this time getting other students attention who had watched the captain of the football team edge closer to Xander, a lot of them knew about Xander's big mouth and wanted to watch it get shut for good with him having at some point insulted each of them and thought there was nothing wrong with it not expecting pay back.

"Like you could." was the arrogant reply as Xander edged closer to Larry matching the look of hatred in his own eyes, the football captain was ready to stand up and attack Xander but heard the teacher clear his throat gaining everyone's attention, while there wasn't any fighting within classes or the corridors usually the teachers didn't care about fighting if it was outside the building.

"We'll finish this at the end of the class." was the whispered threat before Larry turned his chair the right way around and gave the teacher a look that said butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, Xander's eyes darkened more than they already had as he stared a hole in the back of Larry's head, there was no way he was backing out of his fight but he knew that he wouldn't be able to show just how strong he was knowing that he had the next class with Buffy so there would be no doubt that she would see the fight between the two and want to know where he learnt to fight.

"Are you really going to fight him Xander?" a girl sitting diagonally to the right of him asked, looking at who it was Xander saw it was Amy, she had about as much popularity as he did but because she didn't open her mouth to the other students she didn't receive the same treatment he had for the past few years. Nodding his answer Xander looked back to his now empty desk as he made no move to get the papers Larry had tossed to the floor when he had been told that he had no chance with Buffy. It was hard to believe that a few weeks ago he had been intimidated by Larry considering everything he had seen or fought since Buffy had arrived in Sunnydale.

When the class bell rang Larry was surrounded by his friends as the led him away from the school and onto the grounds all looking forward to the fight that was about to take place. Having been waiting outside the class for Xander Buffy was confused as to why all the class was going outside with huge grins on their faces, coming out with Amy Xander turned and started to walk towards the exit of the school ready for his fight not seeing Buffy smiling at him.

"Xand, where are you going? Our class is that way." Buffy said rushing over to him and grabbing hold of his arm, Amy who was stood on the other side of Xander looked behind him and smiled at Buffy, while they weren't friends she was glad they had helped her get her body back from her mum the year before and she had no idea what they would do if they found out she was a witch as well.

"He's having a fight with Larry." Amy informed Buffy whose eyes grew three times their size as she tightened her grip on Xander's arm and tried to pull him the other way, while knowing she couldn't obviously use her slayer strength to stop Xander Buffy was shocked that even the diminutive amount used that should have stopped Xander had no effect on him as he continued to pull her along.

"Xand, no!" Buffy said forcing her heels into the floor trying to stop herself and Xander but he still walked as if he were going through water, she had no idea just how he was able to keep going like this but she did know that there was something wrong with him. Walking onto the school grounds Xander pulled Buffy's hand from his arm and flashed her a smile that he tried to convey he would be fine but the worry wouldn't leave the tiny slayer, she didn't want to watch her friend be squashed and she also knew that she couldn't really get involved.

"Harris I really didn't think you'd follow me out here, I'm impressed." Larry said with a grin on his face as he looked at Xander standing a few feet in front of him looking like they were there to talk about the weather they were having. Angered more than he had been by the sow of disrespect Larry charged Xander swinging his fist as soon as he got within range only to have Xander move out the way at the last second, bringing his other fist through Larry swung again to only see Xander move out the way this time giving him a jab in the ribs. Before he could turn back around Larry was met with a knee to his gut making him bend forwards as his hands instinctively went to his stomach, bringing his boot covered foot up Xander caught Larry in the chin with the toes of the boot dropping him to the floor. Walking a few feet away Xander winked at Buffy as he waited for Larry to get back to his feet, hearing the soft talking Larry gingerly got back up and saw the mocking looks sent his way, a bright red mark formed on his chin from the kick to it and he didn't know whether his anger, shock or slight fear were the strongest things he felt at the minute looking at Xander. Like he had done to Angel the night before Xander moved forwards grabbing Larry by his quad and tossing him over his shoulder letting his body crash into the floor.

No one talked as they all stared at the prone form of Larry on the floor and then Xander standing over him with a smile on his face almost mocking him, Buffy nearly flew at Xander wrapping her arms around his stomach as she pulled him away from the crowd with a smile on her face and a look of awe in her eyes. Letting the slayer move him back to the school Xander waited patiently for her to start asking question but she didn't, she did what no one had done for seventeen years of his life.

"Xander, that was amazing." Buffy said as she nearly danced around him, "I mean I admit it was worried but you kicked his ass. It was amazing. You are amazing." Xander stood there stunned with a smile on his face as Buffy paced back and forth as she continue to talk giddily about what he had just done, stopping she quickly pecked him on his cheek. "That was for winning." She said seeing his confused look, the smile that was on Buffy's face quickly formed on Xander's as he watched her bounce down the corridor forgetting that they were late to the class so there was going to be no point turning up for it. He was taken from his thoughts by the small hand gripping his; looking at its owner Xander raised his eyebrow at Buffy. "You're buying me lunch."

* * *

Sunglasses in place Xander was walking towards his house having declined on helping Buffy and Giles research saying he was going to find a job Xander sighed, the glamour he had put on his eyes was obviously going to cause he to drift away from his friends until he told them what he was or what had happened and at that point he had no idea how he was going to do that. He didn't want to lose his friendship with Buffy or Willow but how could he tell them that what took him over at Halloween hadn't left like it had them. A cars horn shocked him, looking around he saw a blue car stopped at the side of the street with Jenny in it.

"Miss Calendar what can I do for you?" Xander asked not used to calling her by her name yet seeing as how she had only just became a real member of the group. He was surprised that she hadn't stayed in the school with Giles and Buffy to research ...well him.

"We need to talk." She answered opening the passenger door of her car and looking at him expectantly, looking up the street for a hopeful excuse to not get in the car Xander couldn't find one and walked around to the road so he could get in, no doubt knowing she'd want to talk about how he knew what had happened the night before with his slip about Angel. The journey to wherever she was taking them was done in silence, Xander not knowing what to say and Jenny not prepared to talk about it while she was driving, flashing looks at him every now and again she noticed how he kept adjusting his sunglasses to keep any sunlight from getting past them, this was strange to her as she knew that he never used to wear any. "We're here." She told him after ten minutes when she finally pulled up to an apartment block that was in the better part of Sunnydale.

Xander walked behind her never once taking the sunglasses off even when they were in the lift, she knew that he didn't have a black eyes from the fight because she had seen him just before he left school and he was fine then, the fact that he was wearing them was confusing as much as it was annoying.

"You can take them off you know." Jenny said letting Xander into her apartment closing the door behind them; Xander looked like he was thinking of taking the sunglasses off before changing his mind and sitting on her couch that was the centre piece of the lounge. Slightly annoyance went through Jenny seeing that Xander wasn't going to take the sunglasses off and show her what over the day she was taking more and more as fact, "So how did you know about last night?" she asked sitting next to him on the couch, Xander turned to face her and could see that the fact she couldn't look at his eyes was bothering her but he had no intention of showing her just yet. To him this seemed like it was coming straight from a porn film, all that was needed was her to say she was going to change into something more comfortable and bang it was there.

"You phone me, remember." Xander answered with a slight smile, if that was how she was going to try and get him to tell her what had happened then she'd be horribly mistaken it had to have been the worst attempt he had ever heard of.

"We both know that was a lie I told Buffy, because you said something that you shouldn't have known about." Jenny answered with the same tone that Xander had just used smiling back at him, Xander looked at her before standing up from the couch and walking around the lounge there was something in her eyes that he couldn't place and he didn't like it, it was almost looking through him. "Why don't you just tell me the truth?" Jenny asked from her seat on the couch as she watched Xander look at the door almost judging if it were worth it for him to leave right now. Sighing Xander reach up and pulled his sunglasses off before turned around to face Jenny who gasped in shock at seeing the silver eyes that had been at the warehouse last night staring back at her.

"I know what happened to Angel last night because I'm the one that did it."

* * *

Buffy banged on Xander's door, it had been four hours since he had left school and she wanted to see if he'd go the Bronze with her, Willow had said she wasn't going to go and after wasting hours trying to get information on something that they only knew the eye colour of Buffy had left Giles in the library saying she had better things to do then look at his dusty old books. So here she was waiting for one of her best friends to open the door for her so she could drag him out and enjoy themselves, or at least that was the plan.

Opening the door aggressively Xander' dad glared out at Buffy before it turned to a leer as he eyed her short skirt and shirt that showed her stomach.

"I didn't know I ordered a whore for tonight." he said while reaching out to touch her, Buffy was completely disgusted by the look on his face that she didn't see his hand come to her but had heard what was said slowly her brain registered what it was and anger filled her body which was replaced by repulsion when his fingers trailed up her arm. Backing off she glared at the older man all the while wanting to hit him for touching her.

"I'm here for Xander." Buffy said stressing the name as much as she could as her voice rose hoping that if he were in the house then he would hear her outside and come see what she wanted from him. Xander's dad glared at her when she said his sons name, he knew that there was no way his son could have someone that looked like her it just wasn't possible the boy was worthless and unloved, those two facts had been beaten into him for years now.

"Why do you want him, I can show you what a real man's like." He said once again leering down at Buffy with a look of hunger, lust and obviously drunkenness in his eyes, having left the basement for something to drink Xander was standing in the shadows of the poorly lit house wondering who his dad was talking to, he could feel disgust raising in him as he heard his dad talk much like Larry did but in a sleazier way then the football captain.

"Xand is all man, you don't know the times he's wore me out." Buffy said with a smile on her face and a faraway look in her eyes, she could tell that acting like she was sleeping with Xander would be the best way to get rid of his dad and all she had to do was call up something she really loved, but unfortunately for the slayer images of her Xander shaped friend started to flash through her mind. Images of him and her, naked doing things friends don't do to each other. Her smile nearly turned into the same leer that had been on Xander's dad face as she thought about it now not knowing that the older male had turned around and glared at his son when he saw him standing there. Hearing what she had said Xander walked over to the doorway and leaned against it looking down at Buffy with a smirk on his face. Making sure that when she looked at him she wouldn't see the colour of his eyes Xander waited. Buffy's grin turned seductive and she was still looking past Xander and at the far wall in his house, turning his head and seeing that there wasn't anything there Xander could only shake his head still smirking.

"How often do I wear you out Buff?" Xander asked leaning in to Buffy, so caught up in her pleasant images of him Buffy jumped and let out a small yelp at the shock; her smile vanished and was replaced by a look of embarrassment when she saw Xander smiling down at her. She couldn't believe that he had heard the lie she told his dad so he would leave her alone, as well as the fact that she couldn't believe what she had been thinking. The smile of his face grew as Buffy blushed and she didn't know if she wanted to smack the smile off of his face and kiss him.

"You know every night." Buffy said stepping into Xander not wanting to lose this game now she had been caught, even if it had been her fault there was no way she was about to let herself be embarrassed by Xander. She knew how he felt about her and right now she wanted to see who'd be the first one to crack and try to act on either their feelings in his case or lust in hers. "When you come into my room at night, and I'm in bed waiting for you, naked." Buffy placed her hand over Xander's chest as she looked up into his eyes, there was something different about them, and the light from the street seemed to be giving them an unusual shine.

"What happens if I don't turn up at your room?" Xander asked, using one arm to wrap around her waist and the other to trail down her body and ghost over her breast causing Buffy to shiver slightly a grin forming on his face when he felt it. Not that long ago there was no way Xander would flirt back with Buffy like this, in fact he probably would have turned into a pile of happy mush when he heard her lie to his dad but that was then and now he was different. He was better. He left the hand that trailed down the side of her body rest on her stomach that was bare thanks to her shirt and slowly traced small circles on her skin with his thumb.

"Why wouldn't you turn up? Thanks to being a slayer I can bend my body in ways that would let you act out your every fantasy with me." Buffy whispered leaning up towards him. She didn't know what it was but all she knew was that she had to kiss him soon otherwise she might just go insane and jump him while they were at school, she could always blame it on him having gained muscle recently that made her feel like this. She knew for sure that Angel hadn't brought these feelings out in her even if she would only admit to even herself that it was lust.

"That seems like a good reason for me to turn up at your room espec-." Not wasting any more time to let him finish what he was saying Buffy pulled Xander's head down for the kiss she wanted ignoring the small gasp of surprise that came from him. Despite initiating the kiss Buffy was very hesitant in it almost shocked at herself at what she was doing, and Xander's brain had jumped out as soon as Buffy kissed him leaving him unable to respond in kind. Feeling Xander not kiss her back Buffy pulled away and looked at him wide eyed, horrified at what she had done thinking that Xander didn't like her anymore and all thoughts of Angel gone from her head Buffy let go of Xander and shot off out of the door running down the street to not have to face the rejection she gave him last year. Seeing the woman he loved run away from him seemed to snap Xander's mind back to the present and what had just happened. "Buffy!" Not telling his dad or mum where he was going Xander shot out of the door after the slayer determined to catch up with her.

Tears distorted Buffy's vision as she ran down the street hoping she was going the right way to get back to her house, her brain was telling her that it was all her fault anyway that if she hadn't rejected Xander last year when he asked her out that wouldn't have just happened because he'd have no reason to not kiss her back. She finally stopped running after she was sure that there was no way for Xander to be able to catch her and leant against a building as she looked down at the floor letting the tears flow.

"I'm sure an idiot kissing him; I don't even know how he feels. I don't know how I feel." Buffy said to herself, happy that there was no one around to hear her rambling about what just happened. She had to remind herself that she was dating Angel so even if Xander had kissed her back then it would be hard for her to do anything about it.

"Such a pretty girl, crying to herself. You should have a boyfriend." Hearing someone talking Buffy looked up and felt her stomach give out, surrounding her were a group of vampires looking more than ready to kill her and she didn't even know if she was mentally capable to fighting right now.

Pushing herself away from the building she was on Buffy was hit by a strong punch that weakened her knees, before she even had time to recover there was a second punch this time to her stomach taking the wind out of her. Brining her leg up to kick the vampire she felt the resistance of the movement, looking down she cursed herself for wearing the short skirt now, not knowing what she was hoping to get out of putting it on when she had left her house. The few seconds it took for her to look down to see why she couldn't kick the vampire was long enough for her to be thrown across the street and land painfully on the floor.

Running down a random street Xander only hoped that it was the way Buffy had gone when she ran from his house minutes before, this type of thing could only happen to him and no one else. He couldn't believe the one time Buffy kissed him his whole body froze up and it seemed that he didn't want her when it couldn't be further from the truth. Seeing something in the distance Xander quickened his pace to find out what it was only to have his blood boil at the sight of a group of vampires attacking Buffy who looked like she had never known how to defend herself.

"She won't even be fit for one mea-"a hand grabbed hold of the back of the vampires throat and tossed dragged it away from Buffy just as it was about to bite down on her neck. Turning around to see what had turned up the other vampires watched as their leader was met with a right hand that looked like it broke his cheekbone as you could see the spit and blood fly through the air as his head turned under the impact.

Getting ready to attack the newcomer the vampires slowly approached him but stopped when they saw two silver eyes staring back at them with as much hatred as they had ever seen. Getting back to her feet Buffy looked lost as she watched the vampires glaring at someone standing less than five feet away who was merely glaring back at then none making a move. It was only as she edged closer ready to launch her own attack did she see it, the unnatural yellow eyes of the vampires hitting the silver eyes of what had saved her, and had managed to escape the night before. Much like the vampires she didn't move any closer, even though she wasn't being glared at it felt like the two silver eyes could pierce your soul, or in the vampire's case pierce their being with one look. It didn't take long for one of the vampires to notice Buffy was back on her feet behind them, but it was too nervous to push its luck and attack the slayer seeing what had happened to the pack leader when it tried to feed from her.

After what seemed like forever for Buffy but had to have only have been thirty seconds at most the vampires slowly back away growling lowly and some of them whimpering as the unblinking silver eyes continued to glare. It was only after the vampires had vanished back into the night did they turn on her, now taking a step forward Buffy refused to cower from whoever the figure was, this was her chance to see who she had been chasing last night. Taking a second step towards them she watched as they took a step away from her and back towards wherever they had appeared like a saviour from the shadows. This continued for a few seconds with her taking a step forward and them taking one back until a cars headlights coming from behind the figure caused her to lower her head so she didn't have the lights right in her face, waiting the few seconds for the car to go past Buffy looked back up only to see that whoever had been there was already gone, taking the brief few seconds of a distraction to once again make their escape.


	4. Secrets, lies and betrayal part 1

_italics - dreams_

' thoughts

A/n: This chapter will show more of Riddick influencing Xander. Buffy will become more confused about her feelings and therefore become jealous so that's why i'm having her want to be close to Xander in this chapter.

* * *

Buffy couldn't keep still in her bed that night, she didn't know what confused her more the fact that she had kissed Xander or the hurt she had felt when he didn't kiss her back. She knew that she was dating Angel and there shouldn't have been a reason for her to kiss Xander and if she saw him tomorrow she was going to tell him that it had come from their friendly flirting minutes before it, even if they both knew their flirting had been anything but friendly. She didn't know how long it was but Buffy finally fell asleep plagued by thoughts of what had happened. 

_Looking around Buffy saw that she was standing next to Willow and her mum in the middle of the park, Giles, Jenny and Angel were all there as well sitting down and talking to each other, the fact that the sun was out was enough to let Buffy know this was some type of dream and she was sick of having them. Walking over to her watcher Buffy poked him on the shoulder but she wasn't given any attention for it, in fact that continued to act like she wasn't there._

_"Giles?" she said softly hoping that he'd turn to face her, but instead he wrapped his arm around Jenny and pulled what seemed to be his girlfriend closer to him, spinning back around to look at her mum Buffy watched as Xander walked in from the tree line coming towards the group , hoping that she'd get a reaction out of her friend Buffy started to rush over to Xander but she stopped when she saw he was wearing a black vest top, black cargo pants as well as having a heavy black cloak over his shoulders, it was the same attire he was wearing at Halloween . It was obvious he was the one thing that wasn't fitting in with the group as even Angel had gone for lighter colours. "Xander what's happening?" she asked when Xander had walked over to where she had stopped, at first it seemed that he was going to walk right past her but instead he stopped at her side before turning to face the tiny slayer._

_"You just need to know what you see." Xander said looking down at Buffy who had no idea what that was supposed to mean, before she could ask Xander just what he was talking about her breath caught in her throat as she watched as his usual brown eyes turned to the silver colour that she had seen twice now in the past two days._

Buffy woke up with a gasp, sweating slightly she looked around her room to see if there was anything wrong with it, she knew that she had, had strange dreams before that usually meant something was about to happen in Sunnydale, but for Xander's eyes to turn silver the way they had in the dream made no sense to her. She just knew that there could be no way that Xander was the thing that had saved her last night, and she had been chasing the night before it was just wasn't possible. 'Why not, when you where at the warehouse he was the only one missing, and last night you had just been at his house.' Buffy's subconscious told her, instead of trying to figure out if there was any fact to her dream Buffy jumped when her alarm clock went off. Shaking her head slightly at the fact she had slept all night and yet she still didn't feel rested at all Buffy slowly pulled herself out of bed and stood staring at her bedroom door almost wishing for it to disappear so she could fall back asleep but it never happened.

Tiredly walking towards the bathroom with a towel in her hand she knew that she would have to come up with a reason to stay away from Xander, unless one of them make a mistake and bring up what had happened the night before. She knew thinking about it the way she was, was cruel but she didn't know how to handle it having to remind herself once again that she was dating Angel and the fact that Xander had bulked up was no reason to stick her tongue down his throat. Her thoughts quickly flashed back to her dream, jumping out of the shower Buffy raced back to her room so she could get dry as fast as possible and see Giles to find out if it could be true.

* * *

"Buffy just because you had a dream where Xander's eyes turned silver doesn't mean that he is what we're looking for." Giles said as he walked around the library, while he was telling his slayer that it couldn't be Xander his brain was working in a different way, like she had told him Xander had been the only one not there the night of the warehouse and she had said she was leaving Xander's when she was attacked only for the mysterious being with the silver eyes to show up. Jenny stood nervously next to the counter as she watched the conversations between slayer and watcher, after Xander had shown her his eyes the day before she had put it all together but he had managed to extract a promise from her that she wouldn't tell anyone about it saying he would in his own time. While he wasn't possessed in the full sense of the word Jenny knew there was something else in him that had caused his silver eyes as well as his new found abilities and if there weren't a life or death situation she'd keep his secret like she said she would.

"Who else could it be Giles, he had a weak excuse the night we went to the warehouse, after I left his house last night all he had to do was wait a few minutes before following me and then disappear the second my attention went to something else. Unless we have anything better I say the thing with the silver eyes is Xander." Buffy said stomping her foot on the ground almost in an attempt for someone to disagree with her, because of all the attention on her no one noticed the library doors had swung open again that the very person they had been talking about had walked in half way through Buffy's rant.

"Talking about me, I see." Xander said once all talking stopped in the library, Giles mumbled something before walking to the stairs that led to the upper section of the library as Buffy stared at her friend almost in shock and slight worry that if she was right what he could do to them. Seeing that none of them were going to start talking again as well as Buffy and Xander having a staring contest Jenny walked over to where the slayer was standing.

"Xander, Buffy thinks you're the thing with the silver eyes." Jenny said while looking at him, he hadn't told her how he was able to make his eyes go brown again but apart from agreeing to not tell anyone she had been far too shocked to say anything to him. Giles narrowed his eyes as he watched Xander laugh at what Jenny had said, he slowly started to walks towards the opposite side of the table that Jenny and Buffy where at with slow confident steps like he had all the time in the world never once taking his eyes off of the slayer.

"And why do you think it's me Buff?" he asked once he sat himself down, it seemed very psychotic the way he was so calm around them, Buffy gulped as she looked at Xander in his seat memories of the night before in her head of when she kissed him. Looking in his eyes she was trying to find anything that would show her she was right now matter how much she wanted to be wrong about this, she had no idea what it would mean if she was right she wasn't too sure if she would be able to fight or if she had to kill him if it came down to that.

"You weren't there when we first saw whatever it is at the warehouse and last night, you could have easily have followed me." Buffy said not backing down, she was the slayer after all so why did Xander make her feel weak compared to him, like she was his prey and he were merely playing with her before moving in for the kill. Smirking at her answer Xander turned his head away slightly showing his teeth before looking at Jenny almost reading her face to see if she had said anything, it didn't take long for his attention to go back to Buffy.

"So from two small instances you think that whatever it is out there is me?" he asked getting out of his seat and moving around to stand in front of Buffy his arms out to the sides almost asking her to check if it were him. Giles tensed as he watched from the sidelines, he knew that he should say something to try and put an end to this little discussion for now and continue at a later date but from what he could tell, there was something different about Xander. It was the way he was moving and talking to Buffy, colder, calculated, almost goading her into revealing something that wasn't there. He knew that his slayer had a short fuse and it seemed that Xander as happily pushing her buttons to see how far it would be before she snapped but for what reason he didn't know.

"Xander, I think that's enough." Jenny said pushing him away slightly, she took tell that Buffy was having a problem with functioning properly with Xander being so close to her at the minute and that couldn't be a good thing, she knew that they were ok yesterday when they were around each other but that was before Xander was acting like he was now.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Buffy." Xander said before moving in to hug her, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding Buffy returned the hug and only hoped that Xander didn't feel her heart almost bursting through her chest from his touch or mere closeness. She knew that this had very little to do with their kiss last night and something a lot more. When they let each other go and started to move back their faces past each other's very closely and that was when Buffy noticed it, Xander's eyes didn't have any evident pupils and there were several faint lines of silver running through his iris', narrowing her own eyes at this Buffy tried to keep her arms around Xander for a few more seconds to try and get a better look but he stepped away and walked out of the library.

"Buffy what is it?" Giles asked only now walking over to his slayer to see why she was frowning as she stared at the swinging doors. Instead of giving Giles an answer Buffy walked out of the doors following Xander to their next class.

"This thing with Xander really has her worried doesn't it?" Jenny asked looking at Giles with the same look he had on his face when he looked at Buffy. From what she just saw there was more to the whole Buffy Xander thing then anyone knew but she didn't think that those two even knew what was happening between them, add that to the fact that it seemed it wouldn't be long before they all figured out what was happening with Xander and it was a near guarantee that there would be fireworks in the near future.

"I don't know, but he's hiding something from her and she won't like it when she finds out." As Giles's only answer as he walked back into the office leaving Jenny in the library thinking about what she had promised to keep secret and what she knew she would have to tell them soon.

When Xander walked into the classroom he saw Willow sitting in the centre of the room with only one free seat near her, she refused to met her childhood friends eyes when he started to walk towards her and was shocked when he continued to the back of the class and dropped into a seat on his own not once even nodding to her. Turning her head around to see why he was sitting at the back Willow watched as Cordelia took the seat to his left leaving the one to his right free and the one in front of him, when the door opened up once again Buffy walked into the room with an innocent look on her face changed from the suspicious one from the library. Seeing the seating arrangements by her two best friends she knew that they hadn't made up from two days ago when Xander said he and Buffy hadn't done anything wrong when he had carried her around. Not wanting to get into another fight with Willow about her and Xander Buffy was ready to sit next to her male friend until Willow walked over and dragged her to the free seat next to her instead.

"Willow, err hey." Buffy said not knowing what else to say to the red head, turning her head slightly like Willow had done Buffy looked at Xander who was trying to ignore whatever Cordelia was saying to him, he kept his head down until he felt her gaze and stared back at her unwavering and seemingly without emotion. Mouthing a 'hey' at him Buffy turned back to listen to whatever Willow wanted to talk to her about knowing full well that it wouldn't be long before the conversation turned to Xander.

"So both of your loser friends decided to sit next to each other today and leave you alone?" Cordelia said looking at Xander, only letting out a grunt in reply Xander didn't turn to face the queen b of the school and pretended to be interested in what was being taught so he missed the appraising look she gave him. "You know Xander I heard what you did to Larry and I gotta say I'm impressed, it proves that you can look after yourself and if you want I can look after you." This got Xander's attention and he turned his head to look at the girl to the side of him with interest, he could only smirk when he saw the flirtatious smile on her face before laughing slightly.

"I'll think about it." The low reply made Cordelia's grin grow on her face before she too turned to look to the front of the class but not before she stopped her gaze on both Buffy and Willow who were both staring at her with murderous looks in their eyes, unable to resist she flashed them a triumphant grin before writing down from the board and flashing quick looks at Xander.

"You don't think they were flirting do you?" Willow asked unable to keep the jealousy from her voice, no matter what was said between the two a few days ago she still felt like Xander belonged to her and there was no way she was ready to give him up without a fight. Unknown to her the same look on etched on Buffy's face as she glared at Cordelia hoping that she'd burst into flames, how many people could say that the guy that liked them actually saved them from death? Not many she was sure of it and if she had to remind Xander just why he saved her she would, she'd also save him from making a mistake and letting himself fall into Cordelia's trap, it was obvious that now he had put on some more muscle she was looking at him as if he were some type of collectable.

"I don't think so; I mean does Xander even know how to flirt with people? I mean sure he has that little thing he does but I don't think that really counts as flirting." Buffy replied now looking at the board like the rest of the class, thinking that she was being sneaky she would keep turning her head around to see if they were flirting but so far she was happy to see that Xander was doing his work while Cordelia would look at him every now and then. She had no idea why she was getting so jealous over Xander, a few weeks ago she wouldn't have blinked at the thought of him flirting with Cordelia while she had Angel, ok that might be a lie, she wouldn't have liked the thought of him with her specifically thinking he could do better than her but this wasn't the same thing. Right now she didn't like the thought of him flirting with Cordelia because she didn't like the thought of him with anyone except for her and that was another thing that shocked her.

Willows annoyance was growing the longer the class went on, sitting less than five feet away from her Willow saw every time Buffy would turn around to look at Xander and she had to say she hated it. What happened to last week when all her blonde friend would want to do was talk about Angel and how great he was even if he couldn't go out in the sun, now she was openly flirting with Xander, trying to take up his time and looking at him as if he were a piece of meat and she hadn't eaten for days.

"I think he'll feel your gaze burning into him soon." She said snidely causing Buffy to spin around and blush deeply at being caught at watching Xander, which was a thought she'd never thought she'd have to say but there it was. "So how are you and _Angel_ doing anyway?" Willow asked stressing the vampires name hoping it would bring Buffy back to the way she had been and have her stop wanting Xander, thinking to where her crush was sitting she was reminded that even without Buffy in the picture she wouldn't be the only one trying to get Xander's attention anymore and she didn't like that thought at all.

"I don't know," Buffy replied with a sigh, "sometimes it seems that we're both moving to where we want to be and others it's like one of us is pulling away." Turning back to look at Xander one last time before the bell went to signal the end of class Buffy continued, "I think I'm just waiting for someone else to turn up." Willow's heart froze when she noticed Buffy was staring at Xander when she said this and she couldn't help but evil look that flew across her face it was times like this she wanted to hit Buffy and she knew if this kept up she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

Xander was throwing his book back into his bag and was ready to leave the class when Cordelia's hand grabbed hold of his wrist causing him to stop and stare at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I know you have a break after the next class, so I wanted to know if you wanted to spend it with me?" she asked once again smiling at him, a deep laugh filled Xander's head and he could see something in his mind nodding slightly while an evil grin formed on his face telling him to go along with it. Nodding his answer Xander walked out of the class not knowing that Buffy and Willow had been watching them and quickly left before he noticed not wanting to make it seem like they had been watching more then he already knew they had.

"You and Cordelia seemed friendly." Buffy said walking on the right side of Xander standing as close as she could to him not noticing that Willow had taken up a similar position on the other side of, to the other students walking down the corridor it only looked like the two small females didn't want to get knocked around the corridor but if they were looked at in the eye you would be able to see them glaring at any female that so much as looked at Xander. Not caring anymore she linked her arm around Xander's and looked away but smiled when he didn't pull his arm away from her.

"She was just asking me to spend my break with her later on." Xander answered his mouth in a half smile when he felt Buffy pull herself closer to him, he kept his gaze slightly lowered so he wasn't blinded by the lights in the school, the only problem he had noticed about from the sensitivity to light was that he had a hard time discerning colours from each other as his vision was permanently hued with a pinkish/purple tinge. He was able to feel the half step Buffy had taken from shock but with her reflexes she quickly stopped herself from falling over, Willow on the other hand stopped briefly before running after Xander and Buffy, this was the first time she saw Buffy's arm linked through Xander's and her eyes narrowed.

"You told her no, though didn't you?" Willow asked looking at Xander which caused Buffy to turn and look at him as well, Xander rubbed his free hand over his eyes knowing full well the reason behind Willow's question but that didn't stop it from being annoying, yes they had gone out when they were children but that was no reason to act like he wasn't allowed to attract attention from other females.

"No Willow, I told her I would spend my break with her. It's not like I can't have other people wanting to talk to me." Xander answered staring at her now, he could already see her brain trying to come up with a reason why he shouldn't spend time with Cordelia and he really wasn't in the mood for an argument with her right now. "What is it wrong for her to want to talk to me like a human for once and me give me the chance?" he asked this time anger flowing around his veins, he had no idea why this was bothering him so much but all he knew was that he could feel his blood start to boil just being in the red heads presence. Pulling his arm free from Buffy's Xander walked away from the two leaving them standing there with Buffy glaring at Willow.

In an attempt to cool himself off Xander walked into the toilets and started to splash his face with water for a few seconds before he looked at himself in the mirror that stood above the sinks, with his own enhanced vision he was able to see faint lines flowing through his iris' not knowing what they were one hundred percent Xander could only hope that it was normal and it was only because what happened to him he could see it. Turning off the tap Xander went to leave the toilets when he saw Larry standing there staring at him, being more then aware of the fact that he might try to take revenge for the beating Xander had given the day before he prepared himself knowing that with no one else being around he wouldn't have to hold back and the fight would only be two hits, Xander hitting Larry and Larry hitting the floor.

"Harris." Larry nodded before walking past him and into one of the cubicles and locking the door behind him. Shaking his head at the behaviour of the captain of the football team Xander walked out of the toilets and he started to walk towards his next class before Jenny grabbed hold of him dragging him to her free computer room.

"Xander I think that Giles knows something is going on with you." She said looking at him, being slightly shocked from being dragged into the room Xander stood there not knowing what she was going on about. "The way you've been acting, especially before, it was obvious to all of us that there's something different about you and it won't be long before they find out that it is you." Xander's eyes narrowed now that he knew what she was talking about, what happened in the library between him, her, Buffy and Giles was enough proof for the slayer and watcher that he mightn't be himself anymore and he wanted them to think he was for as long as he could. "You never told me just what happened to you anyway." She said taking a seat to show that she wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon, "I'll give you an excuse." She added when she saw him turn to look at the look above the door.

"Well you know if happened at Halloween," he started with a sigh, he knew that for keeping this a secret she deserved to know what happened but he'd rather explain only once and if he had to do it now he knew he have to do it again at later date. "We all went to Ethan's costume shop where he took me into the back and showed me a costume that just looked like a normal set of clothes. When I didn't see anything all that great about them he started talking about how they were the clothes of the last Furyan, basically some super warrior race." He said seeing her bemused look at the name, "Anyway I suppose it started when we were walking away from Buffy's later that night, it seemed that she didn't want to let me more than five feet away from her like she doesn't want to today. I don't know about those two, but it felt like my eyes were on fire and then my body started to tense up almost like I was being electrocuted. Willow and Buffy mightn't remember much about what happened after that but I do." Xander said stopping thinking that was enough to give her, but Jenny merely stared at him almost like a parent would a naughty child.

"Am I supposed to guess the rest of it?" she asked wanting to know what he had done that night, she had been told a watered down version of what might have happened by Giles and he had said none of them would hold much memory of it, it should have been like they were drunk but Xander was obvious proof that at least one of them did remember.

"Well with Buffy being dressed up as a noble woman we were pretty much down a slayer and Willow had gone as a ghost so she was gone as well. Buffy started calling everything a demon and wanted to hide around me which was annoying when there wasn't any reason to especially when car went past. With directions from Willow who went to find Giles me and Buffy went to her house and waited for someone to come and tell us what was going on." An evil smile formed on Xander's face as he remembered what had happened after they got to the house with the vampire finally being put in his place. "So we waited there for anyone to turn up, but in the end it was Angel rushing in acting like he was some big hero. That didn't last long. Whatever it was, is, inside me it doesn't like being told what to do and when Angel tried to push me about I slashed his hamstring. It must have been after that Giles cancelled the spell and everyone went back to normal. I woke up on Buffy's couch with her trying to get a feel I guess; it should have been then that I knew something was wrong. I felt stronger than I ever had before. Not wanting to answer any question or be asked how I was I went home wanting to get some rest, when I tried to take the costume off I noticed it was a lot better fit then it had been when I got it but I didn't think anything of it. The shock came when I took off the goggles and saw that I still had the silver eyes and the crazy eyeshine vision." Xander finished this time looking at Jenny who seemed to be looking at the floor and then to the door at the end of the room before she turned back to Xander and smiled at him. Before either of them could say anything else the bell once again went letting Xander know that he had missed his next class. Not looking back he quickly left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Are you happy now?" Jenny asked as he heard the door to the back of the room open. Letting the door close behind them the person walked over to where Jenny was sitting with a sway of her hips proud of themselves.

"Yeah, I'm proud." Buffy said watching the door that Xander had exited through.


	5. Secrets, lies and betrayal part 2

A/n: I just want to see if people want the second slayer to stay Kendra like in the show or for Faith to show up earlier?

A/n2: The reason that I'm having Buffy being able to see the faint silver lines in Xander's eyes is because the glamour he had placed on them is starting to wear off as well as her own slayer abilites.

Summary: Buffy tells Willow, Angel and Giles about what happened to Xander and they decide that they need to help him. Setting him up in telling him that Buffy needs his help Jenny leads Xander back to the warehouse that Spike had been in, which leads to a showdown between Slayer and Vampire versus Furyan

* * *

Willow and Giles stood staring at Buffy and Jenny who had not long come into the library, the watcher and red haired girl couldn't think of anything to say to what they had been told, just what could they say after Buffy had informed them that Xander was the person with the silver eyes they had saw only two nights ago. Standing further away from the rest of them Jenny refused to look Giles in the eye even though Buffy hadn't told them that the computer science teacher had known already but kept it a secret, it didn't take long for Giles to start pacing around the library like a man possessed.

"Buffy if what you're saying is true then that would mean Xander has been this way since Halloween." the watcher said trying to get them to understand that this wasn't a new thing that had happened to their friend, "This Furyan or whatever it calls itself has had time to possibly bond with Xander's mind, we don't know what kind of damage it would do if we try to remove it." Willow's and Buffy's jaw dropped at hearing this, they had both thought that Giles would be more than ready to remove whatever was effecting Xander and make him the way he was again.

"Giles, this thing inside Xander's head that's made him whatever he is now has to go. He isn't meant to have the strength that he does." All heads turned to look at Buffy trying to figure out if she wanted to help Xander because she thought he needed the help or if it was because she knew just who it was that had saved her and didn't like it. Giles's eyes narrowed as he thought over the small fact that Buffy had brought to the table, true Xander shouldn't have what has been given to him but he didn't want to have to try and stop the now supercharged teenager. Willow who hadn't moved from her seat since the conversation had started was staring at the floor desperately trying to come to terms with what she had been told. As much as she didn't like it, she could do nothing to stop the smile that was forming on her face from the news she had heard.

"If this thing is inside Xander's head, that would explain why he's been acting so different all of a sudden." she said looking at Buffy was if it all made sense to her now, when her blonde haired friend didn't show any signs of knowing what she was talking about Willow continued. "Why he was so mean to me, the fight he had with Larry, the way he's been around you." For some reason the fact that it could be something altering his mind when he was around her didn't make Buffy feel any happier, in fact it had the opposite effect on the slayer and she had to turn away so Willow didn't see the slightly upset look in her eyes. Jenny having looked up during Willow's small speech caught the despondent look that crossed Buffy's eyes but placed her gaze somewhere else when the slayer started to look up at her, from what she had heard during Xander's confession to her the Furyan spirit inside of him wasn't effecting him one hundred percent, it was more of a 'come when needed' type of deal that was going on. She knew it was only a matter of time before one of the three made a plan and although she didn't want to be part of any ideas she knew that she would have to be a part of their plan to try and 'help' Xander.

"Buffy after school is finished you will go to Angel's and tell him we need to come here. Hopefully Xander will avoid the library like he was been doing and we'll be able to come up with a plan on what to do with him." walking back into his office was Giles' way to telling them that the conversation was over to now and both Buffy and Willow walked out of the library in silence, looking at the tiny slayer Jenny tried to give her a small smile but failed when she saw the defeated look in her eyes. She had no idea why Buffy was looking like that, she had to have known what would happen once she told Giles about Xander, it was one of the reasons that Jenny had up until earlier kept the secret, because of Giles being so believing in the Council she knew that he would see anything that could possibly rival Buffy's strength a threat and want it removed, even if it were one of her friends.

Wanting to avoid any more of Willow's explanation that Xander wouldn't have done what he had if he were normal, Buffy quickly left her friend after they had finished in the library to try and calm herself down. The more she thought about what she had just done the more she regretted it, every time she saw Xander lately she'd felt butterflies in her stomach or her heart would race and she hadn't felt that with Angel for a long time and then when she thought about what she had not longed learned it felt like betrayal. She stopped once she got to the school grounds and saw Xander sitting on the small wall that he, herself and Willow had been on a lot the past year, she had no idea what to do or say if he turned around and called her over to him. Instead of Xander turning to Buffy like she thought could happen she watched as Cordelia walked over to him and nearly sat on his lap due to the closeness of them, her green eyes narrowed with jealous rage as she watched the queen of the school laugh at something Xander said and then put her head on his shoulder. Moving before she knew what she was going to say Buffy found herself storming over to where the two sat with a look of murder etched on her face.

"Xan," she cooed looking down at her now well built friend, "I need you to help me with something." She finished when he looked up at her with one eyebrow raised, now knowing where they were Buffy found her eyes drawn to the faint silver lines that were on Xander's pupils almost taunting her that there was no way she could bring it up now. Cordelia's look now matched the one Buffy had when she saw the two of them and subtly she threaded her arms through Xander's almost saying that he was hers, something that didn't go amiss by either the slayer or Furyan warrior. An almost teasing smirk formed on Xander's face as he stared at Buffy now knowing just how far he could push the diminutive slayer, from her kiss only the night before he had wanted to see how much he could do before she tried it again, if she would at all.

"I don't know Buff; I mean I'm pretty comfy right here." Xander answered looking up at his friend; it was hard to miss the shocked look pass over his face as well as the poorly hidden laugh from Cordelia on his left. After the past year of him following her like a lost little pup and getting nothing back it was sadistically fun to do it to her for a change even if he knew that he would give in just not yet. The slayer inside her roared at the unspoken challenge when she saw Cordelia try to snuggle into Xander's side as she looked at her with a triumphant grin, there was no way she was going to let some daddy's princess take what was rightfully hers. Sitting as close to Xander as Cordelia was Buffy widened her eyes as much as possible as she looked at her friend taking one of his hands into her own and playing with his fingers,

"Are you saying you don't like helping me Xan?" Buffy pouted at him, she dropped his hand and wrapped both of her arms around his waist pushing her body into his side as well as knocking Cordelia's away with a small push. Knowing that his answer could very well lead him to bodily harm Xander decided to keep his mouth shut and merely stared at Buffy who hadn't taken her eyes off of him either, sensing that she had lost this round to the smaller female Cordelia stood up and walked away from the pair already plotting her next move as it was common knowledge that the new and improved Xander was sought after from a number of the schools female population. Not knowing nor caring that Cordelia had left the two of them alone Xander's eyes darted to Buffy's mouth as she moistened her lips before she leant towards him, in what seemed to be a replay of the night prior the two were only inches apart as Buffy started to close her eyes.

"Buffy!" hearing the yell both of them quickly jumped away from each other with the girl in question getting off of the bench and turning away from Xander so he couldn't she her rapidly reddening face as well as the anger and disappointment in her eyes at being interrupted. Letting out a low growl Xander turned his head around to see just who had stopped them from kissing, his emotionless eyes landed on his former best friend Willow as she ran over to where they sat shooting a nervous glance at Xander before rushing to Buffy. "I need you to come to the computer labs with me." She told her friend as she walked around so she could see her face, she had seen the almost kiss between the two of them and felt the betrayal grow in her heart that was why when they were just about to kiss each other she shouted her name out. Only nodding in reply Buffy turned around to walk with Willow back towards the school knowing full well that it was a lie her friend had told her, looking back at the now empty bench Buffy's head spun around trying to spot Xander but stopped when she saw him walking away from the school entrance and towards the football field. With what she had found out and told the others she didn't know whether to be angry or happy that Willow had stopped her, watching his back clench with muscles as he walked she decided on angry.

Once again the two found themselves with nothing to say to each other as they walked inside the school having nowhere to go, Willow was trying her hardest to erase the image that she had not long seen between her best friend and crush, while Buffy's already overactive imagination was coming up with different scenarios about what could have happened if they hadn't been interrupted each one was making her blood pump around her body faster. When they finally stopped outside the computer lab Buffy stopped and turned to look at Willow waiting for her to go inside but instead she glared at Buffy with her ' you did something wrong and I'm gonna tell' look.

"Do you wanna tell me what almost happened between you and our no longer Xander shaped friend?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest, the words 'no longer Xander' seemed to bring Buffy from the R rated fantasy that she was having before as her eyes took on a less glassy look. Looking down at the floor she didn't seem to know what to say as it came back to her full force that Xander wasn't Xander, that was quickly followed by the fact she was still technically dating Angel even if the two hadn't done anything that remotely seemed like a date for a long time know.

"I don't know Willow," Buffy said sadly as she looked at her friend, "it's like whenever I'm around Xander I can't seem to focus on anything but him anymore. He seems nearly perfect, he's nice, friendly, charming, he's built and he's strong." Buffy said finishing listing off Xander's qualities to Willow who could only stare at her in annoyance having liked him long before Buffy did and before he got whatever it is he has.

"Buffy you have to remember that something is effecting Xander and he isn't himself anymore, you have to focus on that and start to plan what we're going to do tonight when Angel shows up." Willow said hoping to snap her out of the small dazed is perfect trance she had let herself fall into. Buffy continued to stare at her feet for a few more seconds before the bell on the wall next to them started to ring signalling the next of the break they were on, the two of them started to walk away from the labs not having a lesson there before they turned towards the school gym getting ready for whatever passed as a lesson in Sunnydale. Getting to the gym just before the teacher appeared Buffy and Willow sat down on one of the benches that were laid out across the sides, hearing a giggle both of them turned to see where it came from and could only stare as they watched Cordelia try to hang off Xander who seemed to be in a less entertaining mood then he had been repeatedly shaking her off of himself.

He seemed to tell that he was being looked at and looked over his shoulder to see both Buffy and Willow staring at him, raising his eyebrow Xander leant against the wall instead of taking a seat as he continued his staring contest with his friends wondering which one of them would turn away first. Hearing the doors re-open Willow was the first one to remove her gaze from Xander to watch the teacher bring a bag in with him, copying Xander and raising her eyebrow Buffy refused to be beaten as she stared at him in his sleeveless top and shorts with a smile on her face.

"Ms Summer's as fun as your staring at Harris is, I want your attention." The teacher's voice broke Buffy from her staring and she jumped slightly before looking at the gym teacher sheepishly her cheeks colouring pink. Risking another look at Xander she saw that he was staring at the teacher but a faint smirk was at the corner of his mouth, "Since you are pathetic at contact sports, you'll be playing dodge ball for the hour." The teacher said knocking the bag over and watching the collection of balls roll out, "If you've forgotten the rules you dodge the ball. The left side v the right." Both Buffy and Willow froze remembering the last time they had to play dodge ball was when Xander had the hyena spirit in him, turning to look at him as he stood on the opposite side of the gym there was no mistaking the smile on his face.

Not bothering to collect a ball from where they had been put Xander watched as Cordelia ran over to him with two in her hands and gave him one with a smile before turning around and throwing her own at Buffy, launching his own at Larry with a smirk Xander couldn't help but feel proud when he heard the slap of rubber hitting flesh as the football captain was taken out of the game. Seeing Buffy throw a ball at Cordelia in his peripheral vision he grabbed hold of the brunette and spun her out of the way of the ball and towards his own body, seeing a second ball flying at the two of them know he quickly moved them out of the way once again before turning Cordelia back around seeing that she was holding onto a ball to throw.

The game quickly ended up with Willow and Buffy on one side and Xander and Cordelia on the other thanks to Xander constantly pulling and spinning Cordelia away from any shots that would it her. Blowing a kiss and winking at Buffy Xander tossed the ball he was holding at her before ducking under Willows, smiling at his antics Buffy barely had time to knock Xander's throw away from her by her own ball before tossing it at Cordelia who this time was hit in the chest being taken out of the game. Smiling to each other Buffy and Willow both tossed their own balls at Xander hoping to catch him with at least one, waiting patiently Xander caught the shot from Willow that was aimed at his crotch he launched his own shot back at Buffy with force, forgetting that she had thrown a ball ay him he was hit in the leg and lost the game but smirked when he saw his ball catch her hard in the stomach as well. Turning away from the shocked and hurt look she gave him for the too hard throw Xander walked towards the showers grabbing the towel that he had left out earlier not looking at anyone in the eye.

At the end of the day Jenny; Willow and Giles where all stood in the library waiting for Buffy to return to them with Angel in tow, they had been right it seemed in Xander not wanting to turn up like he used to and having gone straight home. Having had gym as a last period for the day Buffy had been in a less then amiable mood complaining that she had a bright red mark from where Xander had caught her with the dodge ball when she hadn't thrown her own that hard at him, this had been more than enough for Giles to point out that once again it wasn't typical Xander behaviour to do something like that let alone be able to throw fast enough or hard enough to leave that type of mark on Buffy's body.

Seeing the library doors open with Buffy stalking in followed closely by Angel who had his duster wrapped around his body to spare him from the low sun rays as the sun was setting. While holding more particular friendly feelings for the vampire that Buffy was dating Giles knew that he was a valuable member of the team and that they would need him especially for this if what they had been hold was right about Xander. For his part Angel didn't know why he had been told by Buffy that they needed him when she knocked on his door, first she had attacked his mouth with her own and then near enough dragged him out of his apartment and to the school only slowing down when he needed to protect himself from the sun.

"Angel its good you were able to come here." Giles said nodding at him before waiting for them to take their seats at the table where Jenny and Willow were sat. "I don't know if Buffy told you or not but we have a problem with Xander." The watcher said only to Angel this time narrowing his eyes at the first part of the sentence being able to spot lip gloss on the vampires face, unless there was something that they didn't know about him it was obvious that there hadn't been a conversation between vampire and slayer when she found him.

"You've got a problem with Harris?" Angel scoffed as if it were the dumbest thing in the world having never held Xander in that high a regard, "Why don't you just keep him locked in his house so he doesn't hurt himself." He said thinking that they wanted to stop Xander from patrolling with them anymore; from the looks he received it was obvious that this wasn't the thing that they had wanted to talk to him about especially seeing that Buffy was looking murderous. Clearing his throat in an effort to keep from saying something to the vampire and hoping it would also stop Buffy from exploding like she looked on the verge of Giles folded his arms and leant against the banister leading to the higher portion of the library.

"How much do you remember about Halloween?" Giles asked staring at Angel in an almost daring way expecting him to make some sort of comment about Xander again, despite what had happened to the boy Giles held him as his son and wouldn't have anyone expect himself say anything to degrading about him. This question seemed to throw Angel for a moment as he looked around the room hoping that one of them would answer, but it seemed that this question was for Angel and Angel alone.

"What do you mean what do I remember? The night was strange even for Sunnydale, everything is meant to stay in on Halloween it's always been that way. I went out to get some blood from the butchers when I saw lots of demons running around only they didn't smell like demons, they smelt like children, knowing that something was wrong I went to Buffy's as quick as I could hoping that she'd be in and know what was going on but it only got stranger from there. Like normal I came in through the kitchen door when I saw her sitting on the couch in the lounge almost waiting for something, I rushed in to see if she was ok when Harris put a blade to my throat only he wasn't Harris. His eyes were completely silver, no iris, no pupil and very little sclera, it was almost as if he was staring right into my soul, then I asked him what he thought he was doing but I've never seen anyone move that fast. Spinning around to slash my hamstring before I knew what was happening, I gotta say that speed rivalled Buffy's, after that both him and Buffy kinda collapsed, I wanted to see if she was ok but I wasn't able to walk probably so I could only wait. It didn't take them long to wake up and they both seemed to be ok after it, Harris left not long after waking up and I went back to my place so I could heal." Angel finished his recounted of what happened with a minimal amount of distaste when he told them about Xander slashed his hamstring but he had no idea why they wanted to know about this.

"What if we told you that Xander never went back to the way he was before?" Jenny asked with a smile on her face enjoying letting Angel know that there was someone in Sunnydale that was able to kick his ass and had very little reason not to. Yesterday Xander mentioned you getting tossed over the shoulder of the man with the silver eyes before saying that he wouldn't hurt Buffy and it got me to thinking. So when school was finished I drove around a little bit hoping to find him and after twenty minutes I did, with a small amount of convincing on my part I managed to get Xander to go to my house with me when I questioned him on how he knew what happened to you." Flashing a look at Buffy who only nodded Jenny continued, "At first he didn't seem like he was going to tell me anything and was about to just walk out the front door, but instead he pulled off his sunglasses and when he looked at me he had those exact silver eyes before he told me what happened since Halloween."

Angel's jaw dropped at hearing this while Giles and Willow didn't seem to hear that Jenny had been the first to know and not Buffy like they thought. If there was one thing that Jenny hated it was someone that stabbed their friend in the back and that was why she couldn't stand her part in what they were doing or planning to do to Xander. She knew that she didn't have to tell Buffy earlier on in the day but she was shocked by just how persuasive the slayer could be, well it was more threatening than anything else.

"Since we now know that something's not right with Xander we've decided that we need to removed whatever is in his mind from Halloween to make him the way he was." Buffy said now taking control of the conversation, it seemed like a giant tennis match the way the group would talk about the plans that they had made amongst themselves. "After the sun goes down you, me, Giles and Willow will all go back to the warehouse that we were in the other night while Jenny goes to Xander. Since she's the only one that he thinks knows about him she has to tell him I need his help and then she'll drive him to the warehouse were we'll be waiting for him. While we're waiting for him to show Giles with Willow's help will get ready to perform an anti-possession ritual, and when he turns up we need to basically knock him put so Giles will perform the spell and when it's all over we'll have normal Xander back." Buffy said proud of herself for coming up with most of the plan alone, while she still felt horrible for doing it she was telling herself that it was the only way for her to go back to not having any lust filled thoughts about her Xander shaped friend, because she didn't know if she could go another day in the same school as him without jumping him in the corridor, or in the library, or in one of their lessons or even at lunch.

Angel was now out of his seat and slowly walking around the library playing back the plan to himself, he knew that there was no way that they would be able to leave Xander running around with something in his head that had supercharged him especially as he hated the vampire. Smiling he knew that this was going to be one of the few ways that he'd be able to beat on the kid without anyone doing anything about it saying that it was needed.

"So when do we go?"

* * *

Not in the mood for to deal with his parents Xander walked around Sunnydale with his sunglasses over his eyes, during the day at school he had thought there were times when Buffy knew about what he was but he shrugged them off. He knew that Jenny knew about him having told her himself, but very much doubted that she would tell anyone as she had nothing to gain from the piece of knowledge as well as the fact that he had everything to lose from her telling them. Feeling the slight breeze Xander zipped up part of his leather jacket and looked around his surroundings feeling like he was being watched, but not being able to seeing anything and he knew that with his eyes the chances were nearly perfect that if he couldn't see something it wasn't there.

He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket starting to feel hungry after refusing to eat the slop that Sunnydale High called food, he counted this as another one of the after effects from Halloween, before it happened he hadn't liked the food the school served but he found it at least edible and know it made him feel sick when it went into his mouth. Spotting the small diner further up the street Xander pushed his wallet back into his pocket and made his way to it hoping that they would have something that at least sounded good enough for it to not be crap.

Placing himself at the back of the diner Xander took his sunglasses off in the dull lit area and waited for someone to come over and take his order, looking out the window at all of the people walking past laughing and joking with their friends or holding hands with their significant other he wondered just how did they not know about what went on at night.

"Long time no see stranger." A familiar voice called out to him, turning to the source of the voice Xander smiled at Sammy remembering the brunette woman from the magic shop he had gone to, he was shocked to see that she was in uniform with her hair pulled back into a ponytail unlike when they had first met and it had been free. "Weren't you supposed to call me?" she asked him jokingly, taking the seat opposite him ignoring the thirty year old sleazy male that was shouting out at her from a few seats away.

"I never said I'd call you, I just smirked and walked out the store." Xander said with a smirk on his face as he remembered, "Anyway I think you were more than interested in me being topless." He laughed at her before glaring at the man now whistling for her like a dog.

"Don't worry about him," she reassured him with a smile before standing back up, "Anyway what can I get for you?" she asked pulling her pad from the apron that was tied around her waist. After ordering a burger Xander went back to looking out of the window next to him, that was after he watched the older woman walk away swaying her lips. He had been shocked at seeing her here but pushed the thought to the back of his mind, yes she was good looking, well fucking hot would have been a better way of putting it but he doubted that he wanted anything to do with her really. It didn't take long for his meal to be placed in front of him and a piece of paper being dropped onto his lap, looking up at Sammy he laughed as she winked at him before walking away once again. Looking down at the paper his laughter grew when he saw her number written on it once again, he had to admire her tenacity

Walking out of the diner carefully timing it so he would leave when no one was watching him to avoid paying Xander decided that he would have to make an appearance at home, no one knew just how bad his life had been when he was at his house until recently, it seemed that his dad didn't want to try and hit him now he had developed a good amount of muscle mass but that didn't stop him from verbally tearing him down day after day. Shaking the thoughts from his head Xander walked into the poorer parts of Sunnydale and towards his house, he hadn't had Willow over for a long time now and if he had his way then his friends wouldn't ever be at his house. His train of thought was stopped when he realised that Buffy had been at his house only the night before and he had never told her where he lived, well not that he could remember anyway.

Pulling the key from the front of his jeans Xander wasn't surprised to see both his parents asleep on the couch in the lounge, two bottles of vodka laying empty on the floor one in front of the couch and one having been dropped off the side of it. He truly was sickened by his parents, the way they acted towards each other, and the way they acted towards everyone else it was almost as if they thought they were better than other people by being drunks and screaming abuse at them. Glad that he hadn't been home straight after school Xander walked around the back of the couch and towards the basement, closing the door behind him, he quietly walked down the ruined wooden stairs with a grace that he hadn't had before. Tossing his jacket onto his bed in the centre of the room he pulled the shirt he was wearing up and over his head and tossed that in the dirty clothes basket he had bought himself instead of using the floor, the black vest top had been washed and dried that day which shocked him that his mum would do something like that for him. Pulling the top on Xander re-sheathed the curved blades on his back before he pulled out the two black metal wrist and forearm braces; he had spotted them in a shop before Buffy had turned up on his door and bought them. After making sure that they were secure enough Xander opened the small drawer at the end of the basement slash room and pulled out two small blades before slotting them down the sides of the braces.

A dull knocking on the front door confused him knowing that it was odd for anyone to come to his house voluntary, making his way back upstairs to see who it was and hopefully spare them having to deal with his drunk parents Xander pulled the front door open to reveal Jenny Calendar standing on the other side.

"Xander thank god you're here." She said walking into his house before looking around, her face contorting in slight disgust and pity for the teenager, ""Giles sent me to get you." Xander's only reaction was to raise his eyebrow in confusion as to what was going on. "Buffy was given a lead that Spike was in the warehouse you beat up Angel. Only it was a trap, there are too many vampires for her to fight and one of them went to get Spike as well. We need you to help." She finished hoping that she had put on a good enough show of being honest and worried for the slayer, at first Xander just stared at Jenny his silver eyes seemingly forcing her to keep eye contact with him and like Angel had said it was almost like he was able to look into her soul.

"Alright, let's go." was the only answer she was given before he walked out of the door and towards her car and climbing in, feeling as guilty as she could Jenny looked around his house one last time in horror of what he had to live in before she walked out and ran towards the car as if it were a real emergency for them to go to. She started the car quickly and spun away from Xander's house heading towards the very same warehouse they had already been in, part of her wanted for him to say something to here to try and remove some of the guilt that she was feeling for what was about to happen but he sat stone faced staring out of the windshield. "I find it odd that Giles wants me to save Buffy when he doesn't think that I have it in me to fight vampires let alone one as strong as Spike." He said after five minutes of uncomfortable silence, Jenny's heart froze when he said this before it started to ache for two reasons. The first that she thought he knew this was going to be a set up but was going along with it anyway, and the second for the fact that he knew none of them thought he was any good a patrolling

"He must think that you're getting better at it." She replied hoping that she sound as reassuring as she wanted it to come out like, having expected something else to be said she was once again met with silence as Xander turned the metal brace on his right arm seeing how loose it was and how much force would it take before coming off of his arm.

It didn't take long for them to get back to the warehouse where Xander jumped out of the car and walked towards the two now fixed fire doors, Jenny slowly got out herself and walked to the trunk of the car and opened it up pulling out a crossbow that Giles had told her to bring so she would be ready for it if Buffy and Angel needed any help. Not looking back at her Xander placed his hands on either door before pushing them open with enough strength for them to cause a resounding bang as they hit the walls behind them.

Looking around the darkened warehouse he wasn't able to make out any vampires in the darkness or anyone else for that matter, hearing the two doors slam shut behind him Xander sighed before turning around and seeing; Buffy, Angel, Giles, Jenny and Willow all staring at him, Giles and Willow were holding onto a book each while Jenny was aiming a crossbow at him. Buffy and Angel stood from what he could tell weapon less but he knew that didn't mean they were, as he himself appeared to be unarmed.

"A double-cross? Big surprise." Xander spat out looking at the group of his former friends plus Angel, his blood was already boiling at this fact leaving him more than ready for a fight with them. His was on guard when Buffy slowly started to walk towards him, his eyeshine vision allowed him to see Angel trying to stealthily creep around to his back while Giles and Willow quietly chanted something.

"Xander we just want to fix what's wrong with you." Buffy said looking like she wanted to reach out and touch him but was stopping herself from doing so, he almost wanted to laugh, they set him up like this and she had the nerve to say that they wanted to help him, he had no idea where she got off. Hearing Angel take a step towards him was all Xander needed, spinning around he grabbed hold of the vampire's writs and slammed him into the concrete floor causing the others to stop and stare at him, Buffy was the first to react laughing herself at Xander in a flurry of punches and kicks that forced him to move backwards if he didn't want to be tossed across the warehouse. It didn't take Angel long to get back to his feet and rush over to help Buffy fight Xander, seeing the vampire coming at him Xander caught Buffy's fist and hit her with a vicious backhanded strike which sent her to the floor, not readjusting himself quickly enough Xander was met with a punch himself which staggered him leaving him open to a kick to the stomach from Angel launching him into the air.

Landing on his back Xander looked up and saw angel coming at him once again, setting himself in a crouching position he snapped his foot out towards the vampire's knee to only have him jump over it and behind him, his attention going back to the vampire Xander didn't seen Buffy running at him as well but her booted feet hitting the floor gave him enough warning. Parrying a kick from Angel and shoving him away Xander was forced to jump backwards and closer to the sides of the warehouse to avoid Buffy's roundhouse kick, kicking her in the stomach before landing an uppercut taking the slayer out of the fight once again Xander was hit with a thrust kick slamming him into the wall thanks to Angel.

"Jenny now!" That was all Xander needed to be ready, his attention back to the woman that had lead him here and the crossbow in her hands Xander leapt up and grabbed hold of a metal pipe coming out of the wall, before tossing himself onto the wooden beams running the span of the warehouse and out of the way of the crossbow bolt which slammed into the wall where he had been seconds before. Quickly and silently moving away from his position in the darkness Xander watched below as he waited for either Buffy or Angel to jump up after him. He had to admit that he was enjoying this a lot more then he should have been, "Xander we know you're up there you can't hide from us." Giles shouted to him as if that would force him back to the ground where they had the numbers advantage.

"You forget which one of us can see in the dark." Xander replied, his tone full of threat as he continued to move about not once staying in the same place knowing that Angel or Buffy might know where he was. At different sides of the room Angel and Buffy both leapt up onto the wooden beams as they started their game of cat and mouse with Xander, it was obvious to him that when there was virtually now light he was going to have the advantage as he watched both of them carefully leap from beam to beam. Setting his gaze on Angel taking his vampric smell as a bigger threat Xander moved to the same side as the vampire, his silver eyes taking on a predatorily glaze, jumping from beam to beam as silent but quicker than the vampire or slayer Xander made his way to where Angel was. Getting ready to jump to the next beam Angel leapt through the air when he saw it, Xander was flying at him like a demon in the night, catching Angel across the throat with his forearm Xander landed on the beam the vampire had been on and watched as his foe crashed into the floor once again.

"Angel!" Buffy screamed down to the injured vampire but not leaving her place from the beams letting Willow over to him, Xander crouched on the beam as he looked over at where Buffy was standing dead centre in the middle of the room, it seemed that she had gone back there when Angel had hit the floor.

"He should be ok Buffy." Willow called up to the slayer before kneeling down next to the vampire, Xander's laugh filled the warehouse making it hard to tell what direction it had come from as he looked down at Angel before turning his gaze back to Buffy.

"Looks like the vampire can't cut it." His tone was condescending. Before he moved himself once again knowing that Buffy would be trying to pinpoint his location from his voice, he had only been able to move three beams when Buffy leapt the width of the warehouse before landing on the beam he had mocked Angel from. He knew that she would be harder to stop but he didn't want to have to hurt her anyway.

"I was going to do this nice and easy but now you can forget it Xander. Your ass is mine." Buffy shouted looking around in the darkness trying to see him, when her back was turned Xander leapt behind her and grabbed hold of her ass before jumping backwards and smirking at the fear she was now showing.

"Don't be afraid of the dark Buff; be afraid of what's in it." That was the chance she needed and Buffy leapt to the beam Xander was on tackling him off of it and both of them to the floor below. Having landed on his left arm from the floor Xander slowly pulled himself up and watched as Buffy did from a few feet away looking at him in annoyance, pride and fear that he wouldn't stay down. Knowing that he was now injured Buffy once again went on the attack landing a lot more punches and kicks then she did earlier with Xander unable to block as many of them. Catching Buffy's foot in mid kick Xander rotated his own body and his came off of the ground slamming his own foot into her face before letting his grip go.

Seeing that Buffy was once again starting to get back up from his attack Xander rushed over and kicked her in the face his steel toe capped boots connecting across her forehead sending her back through the air before she hit the floor once again this time not getting back up. Giles, Jenny and Willow all stared in shock and fear none of them moving after Angel had been taken out earlier in the fight, Xander walked over to the doors before pulling them open letting the streetlights illuminate the warehouse before he turned and glared at the three left standing.

"Stay in the light."


	6. Two slayers for the price of one

**Summary: Takes place a week after the last chapter, with the Scooby gang once again tring to come to terms with what Xander is now as well as realising that it would be best to try and stay out of his way. Also Sunnydale faces something new when the second slayer arrives in town.**

* * *

Even in mid November Sunnydale was staying true to its name with a cloudless sky, while the temperature might have dropped forcing the residents to wear coats for warmth instead of the fashion there wasn't any threat of cold weather seeping in just yet. Sitting on the ledge of the second floor walkway Buffy was staring out at the school grounds watching as the golden brown leaves from the trees fell to the floor, letting out a tired and sad sigh her hand much like it had the past week instinctively went to the right side of her face were only now was the bruising around her eye fading from sight. The black eye had been the result of the failed and in the end ill thought out plan that the Scobbies had come up with to try and remove whatever it was inside Xander's head, there was just two problems with it thought; the half Furyan half human had different idea's and none of them knew just how strong he was until that night. 

Her enhanced hearing allowed her to pick up the sounds of footsteps coming towards her and she quickly dropped off of the ledge and looked over her shoulder to see Willow walking towards her with both Jenny and Giles in tow. This was the first time in a week that the four of them had been around each other not knowing what to say, it was official to say that getting your ass kicked by your former friend definitely put you at odds with the group of people you hung out with even if they were on your side.

"Hey stranger." Buffy said watching Willow sit down on the ledge before joining her; the red head had been one of the first people to agree with the plan last week and hadn't thought about how Xander would take the betrayal of his closest friend. Willow merely offered a meek nod to Buffy before alternating between looking at Giles and Jenny, over the ledge at the students coming into school and Buffy; there was an air of awkwardness that hadn't been between them before as each looked at someone else thinking that they would start the conversation but it didn't seem like it was going to happen. "We tried to do the right thing didn't we?" she asked not needing to make it any clearer what she was talking about as everyone averted their eyes.

"I think it best if we stayed away from Xander." Giles said after a few minutes of silence, he had seen what the male had done when they had attacked him and looking at Buffy's eye it was safe to say that one on one he didn't think she'd be able to stop him if he seriously wanted to cause some damage to her; something told the watcher that the only reason Buffy walked away with a black eye and a bruised ego was because Xander had no urge to hurt his friends but it wasn't something he'd bet on anymore. Just thinking about the child he had previously thought of as a son brought the fact that he hadn't been at school the last week into the forefront of his minds. "Has anyone seen Xander this week?" he asked looking around the group,

"Snyder said something in the teachers' lounge about his mum phoning in saying that he hadn't been well and was taking last week off, he should be back today." Jenny answered looking over the ledge as she finished her answer something having caught her attention. The others quickly turned to see what she was looking at and felt their stomachs drop, walking across the school grounds was Xander and from the way people were moving out of his path it was safe to say that he didn't have the friendliest look on his face. "So staying out of Xander's way for a while?" Jenny asked looking back at Giles who had stepped back from the ledge almost in fear of the younger male looking up at them with Willow quickly joining them near the shaded area; but for some reason Buffy kept staring out and over the ledge looking like she was in deep thought about something.

"Yes, I think that it would be the best choice before we know just what we're dealing with this time." Giles replied Buffy spun around so fast you wouldn't have thought she had been looking in a different direction anyway as she stared at Giles in shock at what he was suggesting.

"What do you mean we need to know what we're dealing with this time? We're not going to try something like that again Giles." She said vehemently looking at her watcher who was staring back at her with the same expression he had used to try and end a conversation but this would be one time she wouldn't let him force her to fight something she didn't want to. "If you want to try something like that again then you can do it without me, I'm going to try and repair my friendship." Buffy said more quietly this time before walking towards the corridor that would lead her to the ground floor and where she hoped that Xander would be. The three remaining looked at the direction Buffy had left in before turning to stare at each other seeing if anyone else disagreed with Giles' new plan with consisted of the old plan just more waiting, Willow was the next to leave walking in a different direction then that of Buffy leaving the librarian and the computer science class teacher standing there.

Xander's mood walking the corridors of Sunnydale high was anger, it was safe to say that he had been angry for the past week and all that anger stemmed from one point, one act, one betrayal that happened last week; he had spent the first few days after the fight nursing his arm that he had landed on when Buffy had tackled him off of the beam and on to the hard concrete floor before he had ended the fight by kicking her in the head. While he was certain that Buffy would have had at least one injury from the fight there was no way that he was going to be in the same building as her when he wasn't a hundred percent.

The long sleeved navy shirt he was wearing hide the metal wrist bracer he had on which houses a small curved blade that looked more like a razor sharp piece of stone, he wasn't a fool and had half expected Buffy or Angel to turn up at his door one night to try and finish the fight off. His eyes travelled down Cordelia's body as she walked passed him throwing a flirtatious smile as she saw him, not smiling in return he turned to look in the direction he was going only to see one hundred pounds of blonde slayer standing next to his locker looking at him nervously.

"Xan, I've been waiting for you." She said quietly not knowing just what would happen when she tried to talk to him, it was a huge risk and now that she was doing it she was aware that it mightn't have been a well thought out idea.

"Really." Came the short reply from Xander as he swung his locker door open narrowly missing catching Buffy's face casuing the slayer to jump and move to his other side a little taken back from his coldness that she knew she should have expected to be face with but hurt her anyway. "If you haven't noticed it's daytime so I doubt that you've got Angel waiting around the corner ready to jump in and _try_ and take me out this time. Oh I know maybe Jenny, Giles and Willow are all waiting with crossbows to shoot me the second I stop you from hitting me." He spat at her looking more and more enraged as he spoke, this was the first time that Buffy noticed Xander's brown eyes were just as emotionless as his silver ones.

"Xander it's not like that." Buffy said taking a step towards him but watching as he took one away from her, it wasn't a big gap but it was enough for her to know that he held no trust in her nor did he want her touching him. "We didn't know what was wrong with you, Jenny told us what you did and it seemed like you were in danger of whatever it was. We thought we were helping you." Buffy half begged looking like she desperately wanted him to believe and forgive her for what she had done. The bitter laugh that came from him though told her that it was far from forgiveness what she was getting from him, his mouth turned up into a half sneer as he stared at Buffy one hand resting on the closed lockers,

"So I told her and she told you. Wow Buff that some real loyalty that's in your little group of rejects isn't it." Once again Buffy looked shocked and hurt as Xander stepped in towards her, she felt her breath get caught in her throat as his cold brown eyes held her greens ones captive, towering above her Xander took a small sniff of the air reminding the slayer of the time that he had been possessed by the hyena spirit fear now filled her body. "You're so scared of me, in Sunnydale Buffy it ain't me you gotta worry about." Xander took a step away from Buffy living her to not know if it was a threat on her, or if he knew more about what went bump in the night then he was letting them know. The bell rang on the wall opposite signalling the start of the school day and students filled the corridor apparently coming out of nowhere, turning away for a second Buffy looked back to where Xander had been to only see that he had vanished no doubt merging into the crowds of students.

Feeling her eyes growing wet from the cold way that he had spoken to and about her Buffy quickly made her way to the toilets having refused to let any tears fall when Xander had been in front of her, it didn't seem much of a secret that he now held a low opinion of her and was in no trouble of telling her it. She couldn't believe what she had done, while she had been more than ready to stop him last week she had thought it was the right thing and now it had destroyed a friendship as well as possibly bringing about a new enemy that would be able to attack whenever they wanted to not confined to the night like the vampires she fought. One of the cubicle doors opened revealing Cordelia walking out looking as perfect as she always did, while normally the two of them weren't even close let alone friends Cordelia had never seen Buffy cry in the year she had known the slayer and was shocked to see her looking so heartbroken.

"Buffy, are you alright?" she asked but knew the answer seeing the red rimmed eyes of the smaller blonde, she had no idea why she was even asking the two of them had picked to be enemies the second Buffy befriended Xander and Willow and now it seemed that she was a rival to her getting the new and improved Xander she should have been making fun of her and doing what she could to make the girls day worse then what it was.

"Cordelia hi." Buffy said not wanting to fight with her right now knowing that she wouldn't be ready for it mentally; she wanted nothing more than to disappear right then and there or at least run from the toilet but something in the other girls eyes made her stay, there wasn't the normal distain or superiority that was there when she mocked her. "I just had a small fight with Xander that's all." She answered not wanting to give her any details on what really happened between the two of them. Hearing that the two of them had fallen out or so it seemed should have made her jump for joy as it meant she wouldn't be trying to get Xander, but Cordelia for reasons she didn't know felt her sympathy going out to Buffy; unless she was really good at lying and there was something else there she could tell the fight with Xander had really hurt her.

"I'll tell you what, I'm going to skip this period so why don't you come to my house with me and I'll make you hot and then we'll have lunch before coming back here." She offered Buffy who was still looking like she might cry again; smiling sadly at Cordelia Buffy nodded her head before following her out of the toilet and walking towards the car park not noticing the odd looks the pair were getting.

Willow had been on her way to the library when she saw Buffy and Cordelia walking down the corridor seemingly close, she couldn't help the fact that she stopped mid-step and stare at the pair of them leaving the school. She had no idea what had happened to Buffy after going to try and apologise to Xander for the treachery but from the fact that she was openly walking somewhere with Cordelia she doubted it went all that well. Her mind tried to work into overtime to come up with a logical explanation for what she was seeing but there was nothing there for her to work with.

* * *

The car ride between the two was in silence neither of them were used to having the other with them and the fact that they weren't bothered by this only casued more bewilderment between the two. Looking around the car she was sitting in Buffy realised just how different her life was to Cordelia's, while she had been the queen of her old school before being called as the slayer her parents never had the money Cordelia's obviously did; but even with not having the financial power she still used to treat people much like Cordelia did know if not worse. 

"Here we are." Cordelia said breaking the silence when she stopped the car in front of a huge house, Buffy's eyes widened to the size of saucers looking at the home, she didn't even know that there were houses this big in Sunnydale with the majority of the ones she had already seen being around the size of her own house which in of itself wasn't small by any means. "So I don't think anyone should be here yet, the cleaners usually turn up later on in the day." She said before turning around and seeing Buffy's stunned look as she hadn't taken her eyes off of the house yet. "Buffy I haven't brought you here to make you see how much bigger my house then yours I did it to try and be nice." She commented with a smile before pulling the smaller female out of her car and towards the building.

Coming out of her stupor Buffy could only smile weakly knowing that with the way Cordelia looked everyday was something like a model and the fact that in the other girls own word she had said she would make Buffy look hot she didn't think that there was a down side to this right now. If the sheer size of the house was impressive then it was nothing to how it had been decorated inside, it was evident that Cordelia's family only bought what they thought was either the best in Sunnydale or things that other people wouldn't be able to buy. The main lounge was decorated in reds and golds apart from the large black leather couch that was situated in the centre pointing at the 40 inch t.v placed on the wall.

"That's a big t.v." Buffy whispered looking around to see where Cordelia had gone once they had come inside the house, the brunette had been standing behind Buffy having watched her stare in owe of the lounge with a smile on her face, the t.v she had been looking at wasn't used so much as it was more of a bragging point for her father. He seemed to think the bigger the t.v he had the more powerful and important he was; while she had thought it seemed like a waste of their money but his business associates and rivals that came to the house seemed to have the same mind set as her father.

"He likes that just to show off." She stated causing Buffy to jump, despite having slayer reflexes her whole mind was out of whack after her little confrontation with Xander only minutes earlier, she was just glad that she wasn't out on patrol right now knowing she wouldn't stand a chance. "We can go upstairs to get my makeup."

* * *

Xander couldn't stop his anger from growing with each passing second, he couldn't believe her nerve; having taken the week away from school due to his arm to comes to him with some type of pathetic excuse for what she tried to do. Betrayal was coursing through his body, making it feel like he blood was boiling with each second that went by, he had no reason to go to the next class and continued to walk around the school corridors; normally if he didn't want to go to class then he'd have either Buffy or Willow with him to keep him company and failing that he'd go to the library.

Taking a look around he walked into the school gym and stood in the centre of it staring at the basketball hoop at one end of the room, having more energy than he could deal with at the minute, Xander pulled a set of beams out from the wall and dropped the metal pin into the opening in the floorboards to lock them into place. Usually they would be used with a miniature horse for a person to vault between the gaps of the horizontal beams but that wasn't what he was going to be doing, pulling on one of the ropes before tying it at the side to set the height of the higher up beam Xander bend his arms as he grabbed hold of it starting a set of chin ups unaware that people who were walking past the gym were all looking in at him.

One of the people to have stopped and looked in with confusion was Oz, not that anyone would ask and if they did the chances are they would only get a detached answer he had been paying more attention to Buffy, Xander and Willow since having seen the read head at Halloween and had no idea to why the three supposedly unbreakable friends were none having problems. He had been within hearing range of one of the rumours only a week ago that was saying Buffy had kissed Xander one night to only have been rejected by him, after that she was meant to have turned Willow against him and that was why he hadn't been around them anymore. He doubted that would have been true for two main reasons; the first being that on the odd occasions he had spoke to Buffy she had been nothing but politely friendly to him but he knew that didn't mean it wasn't possibly for her to be malicious if she had to, the second and more likely reason he doubted the rumour was true was the fact that it had been obvious to anyone that Xander was the one that had a thing for the small brunette and not the other way around so if she did make a move on him, it didn't seem likely that he would push her away.

Jenny had been another person to have been walking past the library when Xander had been in there forcing her to look in, much like Buffy before her, her eyes grew sad at the sight of him now alone. It was an isolation that she had forced on him by agreeing to let Buffy find out what had happened to him when the slayer had accused her of knowing more than the others did, the fact that he had removed his shirt while doing his chin ups had brought him a large crowd of female spectators, imperceptibly her eyes travelled down his body, or what she could see of it from the back before stopping on his left arm across the bicep/triceps area was the fading of a purple bruise that set against his tan skin which would have been unseen if you didn't know where you looked. She didn't know if she should have been happy that he hadn't gotten out of the fight injured like they had first thought not knowing what had been wrong with his arm after been tackled off of the beam. Her train of thought only taking her a matter of seconds Jenny continued on her path towards the library not having a class next and spending most of her free time in the library with Giles. She had seen the distinct change in his attitude the past week alone with a slight one with Willow, while Buffy had shown some type of regret the past couple of days about what had happened Giles seemed to still be on the thinking that it had been the right idea to do, and from what she could tell from the conversation earlier today was more than ready to try something like it again.

To say Willow was lost when lunch came was a statement someone who didn't know her could have told their best friend, it seemed that along with Xander not being friends with her anymore that for some reason Buffy was no longer in the school which was odd because she had been there only a few hours before. Looking around the canteen before making her towards the twin couches that they had been known to sit at Willow's face dropped at the sight of Buffy not being there waiting for her, it was only then that the memory of her walking out of the school came back to her mind. Sighing she took at seat at one of the plastic tables in the canteen not picking up any food and just staring into nothing, she didn't even respond to the person taking a seat next to her but did when they spoke.

"You're Willow, right?" Oz asked taking the seat next to Willow and smiling at her jumping due to someone sitting by her, the fact that she stared at him for a few seconds before nodding showed that she wasn't used to people she didn't know trying to make conversation with her. "You're usually around Buffy?" Oz this time even if it weren't a question, the small blonde was obviously more noticed around the school then Willow was unless you wanted her to do your work for her, her second nod was having him doubt that she could talk to people. He was about to ask where Buffy was, not wanting to know but wondering why she was sitting on her own when a loud wolf whistle brought all attention to the doorway, turning in his seat to see what it was Oz's jaw would have dropped if he showed emotion instead he merely raised his eyebrow. Standing alongside Cordelia was Buffy looking like nothing they had been used to since her arrival, her shoulder length hair that had been left loose was now stylishly curled around her face, the much more form fitting clothes were evidently Cordelia's being that bit more risky and revealing as well as the perfectly applied makeup on. Having been more of the better looking females at the school anyway this makeover would easily push Buffy's popularity up from near nothing to drop dead gorgeous, Oz turned back to see if Willow was happy to see her friend but was once again confused seeing the glare the red head was shooting Buffy.

"Hey Willow," Buffy said turning around to give a small wave to Cordelia before smiling at Oz who nodded in reply, Willow merely smiled unrealistically at Buffy who was cocking her head to the side at her friend's behaviour. "I was thinking that since I've ...got a day off we could go the Bronze?" she asked realising she had almost said she wasn't patrolling tonight in front of Oz, who had been sitting there silently.

"Yea, I mean it's not like anything else is happening." Willow replied with fake enthusiasm silently fuming at the attention Buffy could get just by dressing differently, it was only this time that she noticed Oz was sitting in his seat looking like he fit right into their little group that so quickly had been reduced to three. "Oz you should come as well." Willow said not asking him, Buffy this time turned to look at the male having smiled at him when she sat down she hadn't registered that there had been someone else at the table with them.

"If I can make it I will." He replied not knowing that they had no clue he played at the Bronze all the time, something standing in the doorway of the canteen caught his eye, turning his head slightly not wanting anyone to know what he was looking at he saw Xander staring at Buffy his body leaning against the doorframe going near enough unseen, moving his silver brown eyes across the table to Oz who merely stared back at him Xander backed away from the canteen and into the corridor once again.

* * *

Sitting at a table in the centre of the Bronze like she was used to Buffy was happily receiving more attention from people having not changed her hair or makeup, but having dressed more suitably for a night out. Willow was sitting on the other side of the table talking to Oz who had surprised the pair by being a part of the band Dingoes ate by baby, Buffy looked around the club once more smiling at the males who grinned at her even if she did know what they were looking at until her eyes stopped in the middle of the dance floor. A brunette was grinding against a male dressed like he belonged back in the sixties who was grinning like the cat that caught the canary, if the dress sense wasn't enough all warning bells were going off in Buffy's head telling her it was a vampire, slowly she stood up after she watched them leave through the exit next to the bar and flashed a look at Willow who was staring intently at her.

"I've just seen someone I have to talk to." She said knowing that it was a weak excuse but a lot better than 'I'm pretty sure a vampire has just taken someone outside.' Getting a nod from Willow who didn't know if she were telling the truth or not Buffy quickly left the Bronze not once looking back to see if there were any more vampires. Stepping into the doorway she pulled the smaller stake out of her hand bag and walked into the alleyway to only stare in awe at what was happening.

The brunette who she had come out to help was beating the pulp out of the vampire in the darkened alley that seemed to be in as once shock as Buffy was unable to even protect itself. Taking a tentative step forward to make sure she was seeing the right thing, she could only stare as the brunette spun around and smiled at her.

"You're Buffy right? Can I borrow this?" she asked before pulling the stake out of her hands and dusting the vampire with it, "I'm Faith." She grinned after turning back around and looking at the stunned slayer once again the shit eating grin not leaving her face once at the look which only boosted her ego more than it had been. "You're the slayer right?" Buffy this time nodded before Faith took a step closer to her the grin not falling from her face, "So am I, I was told that they didn't have one in Sunnydale anymore but your reputation still goes around the vamps." Spinning around Faith launched the dust bin lit towards the back of the alleyway to only hear it hit the wall before falling to the ground with a clatter.

"That's impressive if you are a slayer." A monotone voice said before Angel walked into sigh a blank look on his face as he stepped towards the slayers a little more carefully then he would have due to the fact that Buffy still looked out of it. "Buffy, are you ok?" he asked his girlfriend having not seen her the past few nights when he had been out patrolling one of the parks, the vampire had been scared that Xander might have done something to her and that was why she hadn't been out.

"She said she was a slayer." Buffy whispered before walking back into the Bronze in a daze, both Angel and Faith stood there staring at each other before following Buffy in, Angel's face seemed as usual impossible to show emotion while Faith was once again smiling, she hadn't actually known if Buffy was the slayer but from what it looked like she had been right. When they got back to the table they found Willow sitting there alone Oz having to go up and do another song with his band, instead of being angry like Buffy thought she would have been the red head looked happy to just sit there and look at Oz. "Willow," Buffy said gaining her attention which resulted in a confused look to Faith who didn't wait to ask to sit down, taking the seat opposite them forcing them to sit next to each other if they wanted to face her. "This is Faith," Willow nodded waiting for Buffy to continue as she looked the female over, a black vest top and black leather pants; she looked like she'd fit right into Xander's new little world the past few weeks. "A vampire slayer." This casued her friend to spit out the drink she had all over the table earning a disgusted look from all three there.

"I thought you were the slayer." Willow said looking back at Buffy, who could only shrug in confusion,

"We'll have to ask Giles tomorrow." Buffy replied not knowing what else to say, she had no intention of going to her watchers house at this time of night and she was taking another night off patrolling wanting to make sure she was fully in it. That was when Buffy felt something tingle the back of her neck, she didn't know what it was but she knew that it wasn't something that seemed right to feel, whether it was danger or something else. Turning in her seat she slowly lifted her head to the second level of the Bronze when she felt her heart stop and her stomach give out, looking back over the metal beam that stopped drunken people from falling over the edge was Xander, his silver greys seemed more illuminate with the clubs lights bouncing around the room; it gave him an added look of danger and made him appear more appealing to the blonde slayer.

"Buffy what is it?" Angel asked following her gaze to the now smirking male, it was impossible to tell who he was looking at but that didn't matter to Angel who didn't know whether to run out of the club or go up there and fight with Xander. "We need to leave." He said the former winning out recalling how their surprise attack didn't stop Xander even with numbers on their side, this time they might have a second slayer on their side but they had no idea if she would side with them when they wanted her to.

"Who is the stud?" Faith asked her eyes darkening as she looked at Xander, Buffy's eyes flashed down to Faith a hit of jealousy hitting her with the other slayers comment but she knew that now any claim she had on Xander was gone. "B, have you taken that piece of man for a drive?" she asked turning back to look at Buffy who didn't who whether or not to look shocked to slightly envious that what she wanted to do to Xander had been asked to her in a more obvious way then she would have put it. Angel tried to act like he was watching Xander who was taking several steps to the left and then right mingling in with the other people on that level before coming back into sight when he was actually listening in to the conversation that was going on next to him.

"What? Xander?" Buffy squeaked turning slightly red at the images that had been put into her head, she knew that she couldn't say she had been ready to jump him only the week before when he was ready to take his shirt off, but she knew that with a vampires hearing there was a good chance Angel was able to hear her heart beating through her chest.

"He's gone." Angel snapped at them his eyes dropping down and then back up to where Xander had been standing, "We'll need to go after him." he finished looking around the club hoping to spot the male that in his mind he had a score to settle with. As his eyes darted around the club he could hear Faith asking why he wanted them to go after Xander but there was no answer as he stopped his gaze on the door way they had come in through with faith, it was the one furthest away from both them and the stairs leading to the ground floor proving that Xander wasn't looking for another fight. "He's leaving." Angel said before following Xander quickly, Buffy, Faith and Willow all trailing him, he knew that Buffy had started to have feelings for Xander after Halloween which was one of the reasons he wanted to beat him; to show that he was better than someone who had been possessed.

"Why does Angel want us to go after Xander?" Willow asked Buffy who was looking all around them for some type of sneak attack; she couldn't answer the question because she had no idea what her short of boyfriend was hoping to get out of this. Faith like Buffy was looking around them having caught on to the fact that there could be a fight happening soon and with the guy she had been looking at in the Bronze, it was safe to say that this was one of the strangest things she had happen to her since being called six months ago.

The sounds of fighting could be heard coming from across the street in the park near them, not wanting to lose Xander they foursome sped up not knowing if they were going to help him or help whatever was fighting him. Out of nowhere it seemed the platinum blonde hair of Spike popped up from the darkness with a group of vampires around him as he grinned at them.

"I hope you don't plan on helping your friend over there." He said making a gesture with his head to were the sounds were coming from, "Peaches the fact that he wants you dead makes it odd that you'd risk your unlife for him. But of well, I've wanted the slayer dead ever since coming here and you, well that'd be the icing on the cake." Knowing better then to get involved with the fighting then Spike allowed the vampires he had with him to rush past and attack Buffy, Angel, Faith and Willow, the red head having no type of fighting skill was forced to use the small stake she had with her as well as Angel or Buffy for protection staying as close to them as possible.

Faith had been more then shocked that they had allowed Spike to talk instead of staking him instantly, but when the vamps rushed her all other thoughts left her head. She did what came naturally to her and that was killing vampires and demons, backing away from a kick that could have taken her head from her shoulders Faith returned with a sweep knocking the vampire down before realising she didn't have a stake.

"B, a little help." She shouted to Buffy who was fighting off three vampires herself, back flipping away from the danger and towards the call she dropped to the floor and stakes Faith's vampire allowing the second slayer to pull her back to her feet and joint backhanding a vampire coming at her. The two slayers stood side by side Faith breaking a branch from a nearby tree off for her stake ready to take on the vampires, it seemed like they were always meant to be fighting together as the slayers moved in unison dodging and attacking the vampires; they would alternate which one would dodge and attack with each attack that came at them. Angel who was only fighting one vampire was having his work cut out for him, it seemed getting slammed off of the beam was still affecting his speed as he was unable to block a punch hitting him in the jaw, he was pleased though when the vampire burst into dust thanks to a stake thrown in its back.

"That's all of them." Buffy said moving across the park to help Willow to her feet, normally that was when she would be ready to call it a night but the sounds of fighting were still coming from where Spike had hinted Xander was at, Faith didn't waste any time in rushing off in that direction leaving the three Scobbies standing there looking at each other. "Wait up." Buffy cried out before chasing her, Willow shrugged at Angel before she too ran off not sure why, Angel stayed where he was for a few seconds before walking after them not wanting to help Xander in anyway.

Being send flying through the air wasn't something Xander had been expecting after he had dropped kicked the demon in the knee cap seconds before. When he left the Bronze he kept his pace fairly quick knowing that there was a good chance the others would follow him, not knowing what else to do he took a short cut through the park when he had been attacked. Getting on one knee to look at the demon it seemed fairly basic; a dark green scaly like skin, black battle robes covered its body and apart from what looked to be a ruby in its forehead there wasn't much he could identify it by. Dodging the samurai sword that would have taken a chunk out of his stomach Xander flicked himself up and out of the way once again.

"I have no idea why I went out in a shirt." He said to himself, the fact that the tight shirt was stopping movement in his punches as becoming an issue as a swipe at his arm nicked the skin, it was the first piece of good look he had been given all day as it revealed the bracer he had around his wrist, reaching under it Xander pulled out the blade he kept there before slashing up the sleeve of his other arm freeing it from the fabric. Happy having full mobility back in his arms he quickly brought his blade up stopping and sword from cutting into him, the difference in size of the blades as still a factor as the tip of the sword was dangerously close to getting his head. Adjusting his grip with speed not possible for someone human Xander elbowed the Mohra demon in the gut forcing it to stagger backwards and loosen its hold on the sword. "Ask and to shall receive."

Pulling the sword away from the demon Xander's eyes glistened in the night perilously as the familiar sensation of casuing someone pain flowing through him. Quicker then was necessary he brought his own blade up towards the demon forcing it to step away from reach; with a malicious grin he spun around and cut through the robes it was wearing with ease opening the creatures' chest up and pouring green blood all over the blade. His inexperience with using a sword was revealed quickly for Xander as his second swipe was dodged and the demon used the weight of the sword to kick it free from Xander, it wasn't something that he was happy about as he lunged for the demon but was met with a slash across his own chest; hissing in pain he fell to the floor as his own blood came out of his right pectoral and he could see traces of the demon's green blood mixing in. A loud drumming could be heard inside his ears blocking out all sound, but it seemed like the demon was able to hear something as he turned away from Xander and looked towards the entrance of the park, were in the distance four figures could be seen running up. Taking the chance that he was given he slowly got back to his feet and moved behind the demon, before it had a chance to move Xander grabbed hold of its head and snapped its neck, the broken body falling to the floor in a dead heap. Turning to see just who had been running over, he spotted Buffy, Angel, Willow and the female they had been with.

"He did not know who he was fucking with." He said taking one last glance at the demon before walking away holding his chest.

* * *

**A/n: I know that's not the way they killed the Mohra demon in Angel, but thats the point isn't it.**


	7. When the shit hits the fan

No one knew what to do, Faith and so Buffy, Willow and Angel had rushed over thinking Xander was in trouble when in the end he had snapped the demon's neck he was fighting with ease and walked away almost without a care in the world. Turning in silence to look at each other first and then the body of the demon, the Scobbies were well and truly shocked; this hadn't been what they expected to happen when they saw Xander face down on the floor looking like he had bitten off more than he could chew. Carefully Angel walked over to the demon and rolled it over with his foot so it was on its back allowing them to stare into its dead red eyes, the jewel in the centre of its head seemed to shine for only a split second making whoever saw it doubt it even happened.

"Guys what just happened here?" Willow asked looking around like she was expecting Xander to jump out at them and attack, the other three didn't know what the answer to that was and looked at each other hoping they would come up with something. Faith took a step away from the body and looked at Angel and then Buffy,

"You guys are tripping, you want to take him on?" she asked Angel before pointing back to the demon's body, "You just saw him snap that things neck after being chopped down. What the fuck is wrong with you." Turning to Buffy she just started at the smaller slayer obviously trying to figure out the words she needed. "B, you just saw stud snap. Snap a demons neck like he was doing this type of thing every day, I don't care what your deal is with fangs over there but you know that something deep inside you knows taking him on is a bad idea." Not looking back Faith walked away from the group shaking her head slightly at the insanity, Angel turned to look at Buffy hoping she wasn't agreeing with what the other slayer had said but all he saw was her looking at the ground with a contemplative look on her face.

"Buffy you don't really agree with her do you?" he asked his girlfriend, something that he doubted she was anymore with each day. "Faith doesn't know that Xander almost killed us only last week add that to the fact he tossed me off one of the beams and knocked you out with a kick." Angel said looking at her hoping he had gotten through just like Faith had but there was no change in her expression as she continued to look at the body, before turning her head in the direction Xander had walked off in.

"I'm going to go home." She replied in a distant voice before turning away and walking back the way that they had run, Angel couldn't help but stare at her back in incredulity as he watched her walk away she had pretty much taken the side of Faith who she had known for a total of maybe ten minutes it seemed because the second slayer didn't want to fight with Xander. Seeing that Willow was still around Angel turned to face her with a raised eyebrow, but the young red head merely shrugged her shoulders and rushed off after Buffy hoping to get her friend to take her home first.

Taking one last look at the dead body Angel stormed off in a different direction the then others, there was no way he was going to leave Xander. He knew that whatever was in him was a threat his heightened senses set off warning bells to the level that went off in London during the second world war, stopping in his tracks Angel titled his head to the side as a new and completely unwanted thought entered his head, Buffy had no problems being under Xander on Halloween before he left the house, and they had found out that he had been this way ever since that night; so there was a chance that Xander wasn't a threat to either Buffy or Faith but only to him.

* * *

Stumbling to the front door of his house Xander nearly slammed against it only bringing his hand up to stop himself at the last second, he felt like he was drunk the way his brain seemed to want to smash out of his skull and for some reason he was having trouble with the lights in the street. Usually they didn't bother him with it being so dark out, pushing his hand into his jean pocket he fumbled around for a few seconds before getting a hold of his keys and after three attempts managed to unlock the door to his house. This had to have been the only time he was happy that his parents were drunks, walking through the lounge he saw his dad passed out on the couch with a bottle of vodka laying on the floor under his hand and his mum he assumed made it to bed. 

Opening the door to the basement Xander once again found himself using a door to hold his body up right, something wasn't right and that's all he could tell in his current state; the cut on his chest felt like it was on fire even though it had healed up considerably during his trek home. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to wake his parents up and they wouldn't care anyway Xander lifted his foot trying to make his way down the stairs but missed the next step completely, with the state he was in instead of jerking forwards like he might have done Xander fell down the flight of stairs tumbling like a rag doll before hitting the cold concrete back first with a dull thud.

When he opened his eyes he quickly realised that he was no longer in his basement, the thought that someone had come into his house and kidnapped him flashed through his head but left when he found that not only couldn't be move but it seemed that he was seeing from all angles at once. Rain came down almost with the will of causing a flood all around him; Xander took in the smell of smoke, decaying bodies and dust. Lots and lots of dust. The buildings around where he had been put had a lot of structural damage to them, some looking like they had been blown in half with a bomb, footsteps could be heard coming in his direction and his first instinct was to move so he could defend himself; that was until his situation came back to him full force. Two women walked into the alleyway that Xander was in drabbed in long red cloaks with hoods covering their faces; it was his curiosity that stopped Xander from hearing the crying over the rain and gun shots.

"There's one here." One of the women said having moved over to where the crying had come from, like he had been dragged to Xander was now looking down into a garbage bin were what looked like a new born baby had been tossed with the umbilical cord around its throat in an attempt to kill it. A rage filled his body at the thought that someone could do such a thing to a child, "We have to get him away from here. If he finds this one he'll be killed just like the rest and with him our race will die." The first woman told the second shorter one from over her shoulder as she rushed off through the alleyway holding the baby to her chest.

"Why would he do something like this though? Our people haven't attacked his." The second and younger sounding woman asked hoping to keep up. Unlike when he was dragged to see the baby in the bin Xander was left behind this time looking in the direction that the women had run off in carrying the baby.

"Well this is just great." He muttered to himself as he waited for something to happen, and eventually it did. The scenery started to melt away and change, no longer was Xander looking at what seemed to be a planet destined for destruction but now a garden. Children were running around and playing with each other but not like he had known them to, there was no type of football being thrown or tossed to each other, no games of tag of soldiers, instead they were rolling what looked like jewels to each other. A yell grabbed his attention and he once again found himself being dragged through the scenery and stopping in front of a group of children no older than six, the group of children were all laughing and pointing at something in the distance. Feeling his world turn Xander saw another child standing by a building on his own, this seemed to be the one that was being pointed and laughed at but from what Xander could tell he didn't seem to care.

"I heard he came from Hellion Prime after his own planet was destroyed." One of the children said loudly so most people in the area would have been able to hear him, from what he could tell Xander took a guess at the fact that this child would turn out like Larry in another ten years. "Father said they were all slaughtered like dogs, but he wouldn't say where he was from." A primal grunt could be heard and the child that was next to the wall had charged at the group passing right through where Xander was standing and tackled the one talking. The child on the floor let out a high pitched scream as punches rained down on his face and body, an adult that had been watching ran over and tossed the attacking child off and glared at him.

"Disgusting little boy, is that how all your people used to act." Xander couldn't believe that the adult had just said something like that, seeing as how he obviously knew about the child's people being killed. Wanting nothing more than to throw a punch at the adult Xander once again found everything melt away and could only swear under his breath.

No longer looking at a garden full of children playing, Xander was in the middle of a busy street. People were knocking into each other in their attempt to have the most room there was, something that hadn't changed as far as he was concerned. Watching what was happening carefully he was able to spot one person that didn't fit in, standing in the more shaded areas of the street was someone that looked to only be around eighteen watching what was going on with a predatory gaze. His clothes unlike the heavily decorated garments that the other people were wearing were simple; all black. It was the same thing that Xander wore when he went out to patrol, a black vest top and a pair of black combats. Immediately he could tell that this was the person inside his head, so it was with a slight grin that he watched him drag an unsuspecting man into the alley way behind him, being aware of it now Xander waited for his body to be moved in that direction and watched as Riddick pinned the older man to the wall. Looking at the cohabiter of his body Xander could tell that at only eighteen the male had spent a long time training his body as it was more muscled then Xander's was before Halloween.

"Give me your money." Riddick ordered getting right in the man's face; it was surprising to see someone older then Riddick shrink in fear of what was happening. "I said give me your money." Riddick ordered once again punching the man in the stomach with one hand while holding him up with the other. Not wanting to be hit anymore the man shakily reached inside his jacket and pulled out a wallet before handing it over.

"I promise I won't tell anyone." The man said before making his way towards the entrance of the alleyway and what he thought was his escape. Scoffing from behind the man Riddick placing the wallet in his pocket before pulling out a three inch blade shaped like a tooth, grabbing the man by the back of his neck Riddick pulled him back into the alleyway but further then the two had been, tilting the man's head up and back Riddick slashed straight across his throat before turning around and walking down the opposite end of the alleyway. Xander could only wince at what he had just seen, ok so what was inside his head and body was a killer; something that the others had feared about. Knowing what was coming next Xander once again waited for the scenery to change, something told him that it was a good thing no one else was seeing this as well as him.

The difference in where he was, was once again the first thing Xander could point out. Not even the planet that what he now knew to be under attack felt this bad, the walls were a dirty brown colour stained with what looked like blood and other fluids that he was unable to get close enough to tell and he was thankful for that. But why his knocked out self had brought him here was something he didn't know just yet, yes he knew that they were the memories of Riddick but there was no one in the room with him and he was unable to move around himself. The dim lights hit something on a table next to him and Xander's stomach dropped when he saw different types of surgical tools laying there, only they looked like they belonged in some type of horror film. Suddenly the door slammed open causing Xander to jump for lack of a better term and stare at the sheer size of the man that walked in first. This guy looked liked he'd crush your head with his bare hands, not even a second later Riddick walked in behind him in his normal clothes, the only difference was the two thick metal bands around his wrists.

"You know the price is twenty menthol cools." The man said sitting in the only seat in the room, which was next to the table of instruments, not giving a verbal answer Riddick reached into his back pocket and pulled a set of what looked like gel packs to Xander before tossing them at the larger man. "I should have known it was you. The guards are talking about someone killing them left right and centre taking the cools off the dead bodies. Oh well, I'll do what I said." He said patting the large board that he wanted Riddick to get on.

"This surgical shine job, will let me see who's sneaking up on me in the dark?" Riddick asked getting on the bed not hesitating. The man picked up what looked to be a scalpel and grinned at Riddick.

"Exactly." Xander turned away when he saw the blade go to Riddick's eye but could only sigh when he saw everything fade away once again. Only this time the lights didn't come back down and he was left in the dark, spinning around like a dog chasing its tail he grinned when he took a step forward and moved this time. In the distance he could see a light flickering on and off with someone standing under it, he had no idea what it was but couldn't help himself from moving forwards to it.

Stopping nearly in the light itself Xander was confused when he saw what looked to be a mannequin there, so far he had been to five different places since he fell down the stairs in his house and his confused him the most.

"It's not going to bite you." A voice said from the side causing Xander to leap out his skin as he was going to take a step when the newcomer spoke. Turning around Xander's heart stopped when he saw Jesse standing next to him looking at the mannequin, it had been over a year since Xander had staked him after he was turned by Darla and he thought he put it all behind him but seeing his childhood friend standing there proved him wrong. "I'm not really him, it's just the fact that you and Willow seem to be on the outs right now and I have no clue about you and Buffy so don't feel bad." For the first time since Halloween Xander felt his eyes start to water at the corners, turning to look back at the mannequin as well Xander took a step forward seeing that it was smaller than he was.

"What's this doing in my head?" he asked Jesse turning back around to look at the person who looked exactly like but wasn't his friend.

"Isn't it obvious it's you." Jesse replied stepping next to Xander never taking his eyes off the mannequin, "You'll love this." Turning his attention back to the piece of rubber and plastic Xander watched as it grew five inches so it was a forehead bigger then he was before it started getting wider as muscle definition formed on it, a extremely light layer of hair formed on the head as well as a set of goggles. Xander seemed stunned by what was happening while Jesse just looked on with a smile on his face, a black vest top as well as a pair of black cargo pants formed over the mannequins body, two curved blades formed as well as a black cloak pooled onto the floor at the feet.

"Is that?" Xander stopped and turned to look at Jesse eyes wide at what he had just seen, the being that looked like his former friend smiled and nodded.

"Riddick yes. That the person that you've just had the pleasure of watching some of his memories. Everybody as a set form that is there person, but since Halloween yours has been empty ever changing never staying. Look." Jesse nodded back to the mannequin in time for Xander to see it once again changing form, this time it shrunk down to Xander's height and lost a great deal of the muscle on it; no longer a thin layer of hair but long black strands some coming down to just above his eyes. It was amazing to Xander as he watched the clothing change, gone was the black vets top and cargo pants in its place as a shirt that had at least three different colours on it and a pair of loose fitting jeans. "You see, it's like you centre can't decide what you are anymore. When you're calm and happy this becomes Xander, the person that was Willow and Jesse's best friend the same guy that made a fool out of himself in front of Buffy the first time he talked to her. And then when you're angry, you become Riddick, the very last Furyan. Someone that's so skilled at killing people I don't think there's anyone on Earth that could stop or catch him without taking three years to understand his psyche, as well as the fact that he'd do anything he has to, to survive."

While listening to Jesse Xander watched as the mannequin lost his image and once again went back to being blank, he had no idea what it meant if that kept happening and turned to Jesse to see if he'd know.

"Your identity crisis, right now I don't think it'll do any harm. Over time I'm afraid your mind will shut down." Seeing the shocked look on Xander's face he continued, "The human mind isn't meant to have more than one personality, why do you think schizophrenics turn out the way they do; their mind can't take what's happening and in the end shuts down. You come with the bonus of being on the Hell Mouth so this will be sped up accordingly." Xander could only stare at the mannequin in horrified fascination.

"You're telling me that my mind's going to shut down and I'll die?" Xander asked keeping his back turned taking this all in. It's been great having this strength but knowing that it was killing him kind of but it on the back burner.

"If I'm here that means I've been sent to stop that from happening though." Jesse replied taking several steps towards Xander who was right in front of the mannequin staring at it now it was smaller than him once again. "The Powers That Be think while Riddick pretty much does what he wants when he wants to do it, that he'll be a good ally for the slayers. And so they have a way to sort out your problem by merging Xander and Riddick together forever." Xander turned and looked at Jesse like he was crazy, everything he had been told so far seemed insane and it was only getting crazier. "Put your hand on the chest area." Jesse instructed and watched as Xander seemed hesitant to do so, taking as much time as possible while keeping one eye on the other person floating around his head. Doing what was said Xander watched as the mannequin once again started to change, growing taller once again but only by three inches this time, the mannequin widened out to a lesser extent then Riddick was alone. A slightly thinner amount of hair formed but instead of being flat against Xander's head was spiked up making him look taller still, next the vest top formed as well as the cargo pants but a white shirt appeared over the top half buttoned up and last but not least the two curved blades formed in the mannequins hands. "I dub thee, Ridder, Labelle Harrick." Jesse said before smacking Xander on the forehead three times, "And now it's time to leave." Slamming his palm into Xander's chest he watched as he faded from sight. "Goodbye old friend."

* * *

Willow could only watch from the back as Faith and Buffy talked to each other about slaying on the school campus, she and Buffy had been outside not talking to each other but sitting in silence as they each once again didn't know what to say when Faith turned up. Apparently coming to Sunnydale to be the slayer meant that she was being enrolled in the school as well, not only that but Willow had taken notice of the fact that Faith's 'school wear' was very enough the same as the clothing she had on the night before tight black jeans followed by a blue shirt that looked far too tight to move around in. 

"So I was thinking we should tell Giles about last night." Buffy said half turning back so she was talking to Willow as well casuing the red head to speed up now standing on the other side of Buffy. "I mean with all those books he should know what it was that Xander snapped the neck of." The last three words were spoken in a much quieter tone then the rest of the sentence as Buffy thought back to the emotionless way Xander killed the demon, it was almost robotic.

"So you two are friends with the stud?" Faith asked casuing Buffy and Willow to turn and look at her with questioning expressions. "X. Xander. Or as I'm calling him stud. You're his friend's right?" she asked once again staring at them, both Buffy and Willow fell silent at the question, a week and a half ago they both would have been able to answer with a yes within a second but now they were so sure of it.

"It's complicated." Willow answered as she pushed the doors to the library open smiling at a passing Oz on her way shyly. Faith stared at them not knowing what she meant by complicated, either they were his friends or not. It was hardly a hard question to answer, 'yes or no' following Buffy into the library she watched as Willow sat herself down at the table and Buffy walked over to the office door and banged on it once.

"Giles we need you out here." She yelled loudly, she herself had been on the end of seeing his and Jenny's displays of affection when she had walked in quietly and had never been the same since, walking to the table as well she waited a few seconds for her watcher to come out of his office looking annoyed at his slayer. Ignoring this Buffy grinned innocently before taking a seat at what would have classed as the head of the table. "Giles we need you to get in touch with the council." She said looking at the librarian, who was stuck between looking at Buffy and Faith, "I found her last night fighting a vampire outside the Bronze, she said she a slayer." Buffy told him; Giles stared at Buffy before turning back to Faith who gave a small smile not knowing what else to do in the situation.

"Another slayer here in Sunnydale." Giles started walking around the library taking in what was just said to him, "It could be possible, you Buffy were technically dead in the master's lair for a few moments that could have been long enough for the next slayer to be called." Faith stared in shock at Buffy, she knew that once a slayer had died another was called, but for some reason so didn't think Buffy had been the one killed, while in training she had heard people talk about Buffy as the slayer and most of the people thought she had too much free rein.

"You were killed?" Faith asked moving over to Buffy and placing her hand over the pulse on the smaller slayers neck. Willow started to giggle at this while Buffy merely knocked the hand away and looked like a kicked puppy.

"It was only for a minute. Anyway Xand-"she stopped talking as she thought back to how Xander had given her CPR thus bringing her back to life, Willow turned and looked at Buffy with a pained expression on her face while Faith was once again confused. "Giles last night after we met Faith, Angel wanted us to go after Xander but we ended up being cut off by Spike and some of his lackeys." The watcher nodded waiting for her to finish whatever it was that she needed to say, "But when he found Xander he was fighting this demon, it was all green and wearing this black robes, ohh and it had a red jewel in its head." She sat back obviously proud of herself for telling her watcher a watered down version of what had happened the night before.

"That sounds interesting, but it would be hard to know what demon it is just by that description." A new voice said, as one all four heads turning to look in the direction of where the voice had come from and to say the three teenagers were shocked would have been obvious. With slow steps a man who looked to be in his mid to late twenties was walking over to them, dressed in a newer version of the tweed suit Giles had on his hair was gelled back and small glasses covered his eyes. "I'm Wesley Wyndam Price and I'm Faiths new watcher." He announced to the group before standing in front of Buffy, "Now this demon, you saved the person from it correct?" he asked with a smug smile on his face to which Giles rolled his eyes.

"Errm no." Buffy frowned at him before turning back to Giles, "That was what I wanted to tell you, Xander just snapped its neck like a toothpick." Giles' eyebrows rose at hearing this before shooting a look at Wesley as he collected some of his books.

"Buffy we really must find out what type of demon Xander killed, if it has any type of clan that would want revenge on him." he said while placing a number of books on the table as Faith stood behind Buffy and Willow looking over their shoulders as the red head picked a book up first followed by Wesley.

"Riddick." Buffy whispered her eyes glazed over, the name drew confused and curious stares towards her, "At Halloween when we were all taken over, he called himself Richard B Riddick." She said not looking at anyone as she continued to stare straight ahead at the far wall.

Walking around the school Xander was aware of the stares he was getting off a number of the students and he couldn't say he was surprised, he was slightly broader then he had been the day before but not to an extreme extent and his hair was now spiked up slightly. He wasn't in the mood to be talked to about his new appearance by any of the students that looked like they wanted to come closer to him, stopping outside his locker he was happy to see that there was no Buffy there today not in the right frame of mind to have another confrontation with her. The shiny metal of the locker reflected his image and he took a second to make sure there wasn't anything on him, his black vest top was nearly hidden from view with the white shirt over it buttoned up three quarters of the way, a change from the cargo pants he had been wearing were the dark blue jeans covering his boots. He had to say whatever that thing was inside his head with him last night defiantly made some good changes when he had Xander merge both personalities in him. Out the corner of his eye he saw bright orange hair making its way in his direction, turning around he saw it was the same guy that had been talking to Buffy and Willow the day before at lunch.

"You're Xander aren't you?" Oz asked looking at him in wonder, his appearance had changed from yesterday. "Willow and Buffy's friend?" he continued when Xander just stared at him not answering the first question. Moving away from his locker not having opened it Xander started walking down one of the corridors before looking over his shoulder to Oz.

"You've got the wrong guy." Not waiting around to see what the next question could have been he continued on his way down the corridor not really walking towards anything but just wanting to be away from Oz, he had the feeling that if he stayed there for too long then he would either start asking unwanted questions or Buffy and Willow would turn up and he was putting off seeing them today for as long as he could. That was his idea but it went quickly out the window when he walked around a corner and straight into Buffy, who had been with Faith and Willow, not stopping to say sorry Xander put his hand on the blonde slayers shoulder and turned her to the side so he could get past the three of them, his eyes staring straight ahead at all times. Willow looked down at the floor hurt that he hadn't spoken to them but Buffy and Faith continued to stare at Xander's retreating form, their eyes trying to take in everything they could as if they'd never see him again, stopping for an needless amount of time of his ass.

"B you've never wanted to just grab him and mmph." Faith said thrusting her hips out instead of finishing what she had said, Willow looked up at this wanting to know what Buffy would say in response but there was no answer, as she turned a light shade of red while looking away and to were Xander had gone. "You do don't you?" Faith laughed throwing her arm around Buffy, and pulling her closer as they started walking down the corridor in the direction Xander had come from. Willow once again saw that Faith had pulled Buffy away from her and was making no attempt to stop, with a frown on her face that could have melted steel she picked her pace up and once again stood on the other side of Buffy, "I'm telling you B, the next time X walks past you just grab hold of him and drag him into an empty classroom, closet or even slam him against the lockers and get your freak on girl. Because if you don't want him, I'll sure as hell will." Faith laughed as they walked to their next class, Buffy let out a small laugh to go along with the other slayer but couldn't hide the jealous glare she shot at the back of Faith's head.


	8. When the shit hits the fan part 2

Hastily Spike paced around the warehouse that he, Drusilla and his lackey vampires had been using for a base. After last night his temper was quickly reaching boiling point and no one that was there was ready to try and talk to him, slowly one vampire walked over to Spike while trying to keep a safe distance from the master vampire.

"Spike why haven't we made a move yet? You told us that we'd take over Sunnydale when we joined you but we've done nothing except stay here." A group of other vampires nodded their heads in agreement with what was being said but it was quickly changed when Spike rushed at the vampire and tossed him through one of the covered windows exposing him to the sun that hung high in the sky.

"You want to take over Sunnydale? Well so do I." Spike spat at them wanting another vampire to say something so he could kill them, "You seem to be missing a very important fact children, Sunnydale has two slayers working here now. Not one but two, we could have over powered goldilocks if she were the only one, they've also got that poofter of a sire Angel working for them and that thing out there that's killing vampires, and demons left, right and centre if they look at him wrong. You wouldn't last against one of them, and it's time to face the facts that we're being overpowered by them." Spike said tiredly, he was becoming annoyed himself at the lack of motion to take over Sunnydale and had thought that at least one of the four last night would have been killed or at least seriously wounded and taken out of the fight long enough for him to get a foot hold.

"So pretty." Drusilla said in her usual tone, making many believe that she wasn't listening to anything that had been said in the conversation. Spike spun around and look at his vampire love who was laying on a metal table giggling at the ceiling. "Swirling and spinning, it's floating Spike. And then poof it vanishes never to be seen again." She burst into hysterics as Spike neared her wanting to know what she saw, turning her head to look at the platinum blonde the smile on her face grew. "We can take their soul."

* * *

Giles was sitting in the library looking through books trying to find the demon that Buffy had described to them earlier while Wesley was trying to find anything in any book on a Richard B Riddick. So far neither of them had any luck, Giles looked over at Wesley and could see everything he had been when he had first left the watcher's training and took over his first slayer. The council made it seem that you had to stamp everything out of a slayer, remove any of her friends and relationships make her so that the only thought in her head was slaying and yet while that method had been in practise for centuries virtually no slayer had lived past twenty, and here was Buffy; already haven being killed once but brought back with CPR and had a group of close friends, a vampire boyfriend and didn't look like she was in any danger of being killed a second time soon. It made him think that maybe, just maybe the watcher's council had it all wrong and the fact that a slayer wasn't allowed to have friends or a relationship was the reason that they didn't live for so long.

"Do you really think you'll find anything on him in that book?" he asked Wesley who just looked up at Giles, "Whatever it was that called itself Riddick came from a Halloween costume." Wesley rolled his eyes at what Giles had said and went back to looking in his book for anything that would be able to tell him just what Riddick was. Sighing the older watcher walked back over to the table in the centre of the library and picked up another book, if they were going to be researching two different things then it was going to be harder to find just what demon Xander had snapped the neck off, while he couldn't blame her Buffy's description wasn't a lot to go on for an in depth search and he didn't think that Xander would be in the mood to share with them.

Buffy, Faith and Willow all walked into the gym for their lesson, it was only the second time since Halloween that they had to go to the gym the first having taken place just before they found out what was up with Xander. Looking around of the students that were already there it was no surprise to see the jocks were picking on Jonathon like they usually did, Buffy didn't know why but it was something that always bothered her' perhaps it was that she found it her duty to try and help out even when it was something supernatural, or just the fact that she hated the fact that she had been one of the cheerleaders that were currently laughing at the target. With a frown on her face she started to make her way across the gym when Faith grabbed hold of her upper arm stopping her in her tracks.

"B, look." Faith told her, turning away from the other slayer Buffy turned back around to see what was being pointed out to her and couldn't have been more shocked to see Xander squaring off with one of the jocks that had been picking on Jonathon who was currently crouched on the floor. With a vicious smile on his face Mark shoved Xander in the chest trying to intimidate him now but the way he barely budged and got right back in his face showed that it hadn't worked, it was also something that had the other jocks who had been standing there and laughing to surrounds Xander ready to jump him if anything happened. This time though both Faith and Buffy looked ready to get involved if anything was going to happen.

"That's the type of thing I like to see." The coach said walking into the gym, "Two people wanting to show that they're the bigger man." Some of the students turned to look at the coach not knowing what he was talking about but Xander and Mark hadn't taken their eyes off of each other and thus the majority of the gym was still looking at them waiting for what seemed to be the eventual fight that would ensue. "You two want to fight then do it later, right now I've got a lesson to teach and that means you lot have to try and learn something from me." Not moving away Xander turned his body slightly to allow Mark and his friends to get around him. "Self defence is something you should know living in this town with the amount of disappearances and such so Snyder has allowed me to teach you how to defend yourself." The gym was broken into male and female pairs, Willow and Oz, Faith and Mark and Buffy and Xander. "The purpose of this is to get your opponent onto the floor and keep them there. Go." Buffy risked a glance at Faith, who once again made a thrusting motion with her hips before turning to face Mark; slowly she turned back to Xander who in his own right hadn't attacked her when she wasn't looking at him. Instead he paced the area in front of Buffy waiting for her to make a move, the sounds of the other pairs starting was already filling the air and the coach quickly saw the two of them staring at each other. "Harris, Summers go already."

Moving towards Buffy quickly Xander attempted to swipe her feet from underneath her, something which Buffy jumped over and tried to flatten Xander's crouched form to the floor her movement was pushed away by Xander when she was within arm's reach allowing him to roll back to his vertical base. One the other side of the gym Faith was making sport out of Mark dodging each of his attempts using her slimmer frame and added speed while continually knocking him down but making no attempt to pin him to the floor, she looked like she was having the time of her life whenever he got back up and glared at her before rushing once again. Knowing that ninety percent of the gym would be too busy to watch them Buffy rushed Xander leading in with a roundhouse kick that he was forced to push away with both of his hands before trying to hit her with a knee to the gut, the difference between them was immediately obvious if someone took the time to look; Buffy being the slayer was a martial art fighter each of her attacks and dodges flowed into each other looking extremely fluid something that was helped with her size. Xander on the other had was both taller and more built then Buffy, with Riddick being a part of him fully now and not something that came out when needed his fighting was more of a brawler, every time Xander made an attack it was with the intent to knock Buffy to the floor in one move, even his blocks had the more aggressiveness then the slayer. So with their two different ways of fighting they cancelled each other's attacks out, it mightn't have look as visually as pleasing as watching two martial arts fighters competing but it wasn't an ugly contest either.

Backing away from Xander after his palm and struck her in the shoulder Buffy watched as he waited for her, there was no defensive stance that said he was ready for another attack but that had already fooled her twice thus far. Rushing at her former friend, or potential boyfriend she wasn't sure just yet Buffy was shocked when Xander used his mass to wrap one arm around her waist and pick her up from the clean, the second arm went around her knees as he spun Buffy in the air using her own momentum to try and take her to the floor. Quickly her slayer instinct kicked in and Buffy placed one of her hands on Xander's shoulder, using the joint momentum of her trying to rush him and Xander picking her up and spinning her the blonde slayer managed to someone flip herself over Xander and land behind him as both of his arm were up in the air after losing his grip. The pair had been able to do this at the start as no one had been watching them but now all eyes were on the two as Xander stood there with his back to Buffy waiting for her to make her attack. When nothing happened Xander took four steps away from Buffy before turning around to see her standing there with an impish smile on her face, not doing anything other than nodding as he could see the lights dancing in her green eyes. Taking a page out of her book Xander went after Buffy with a series of hooks aimed at her face, shoulders and chest, the need to win was coming out in him more and more now as well as the excitement of the fight something that was mirrored in Buffy, seeing her move to the side from one of his punches Xander spun on his heel attempting to land a back fist on her. Two small hands gripped Xander's wrist stopping him in mid move, not having the chance to try and get away he found himself being tossed to the floor before one hundred pounds of blonde slayer sat across his waist straddling him, in a way that was very similar to the year prior when he was possessed by the hyena.

"I win." Buffy whispered looking down at Xander, what Faith had said to her only that morning was coming back to her right now and she knew that this would be one of the best chances she had, then there was the fear in the back of her mind; there was no proof that Xander was truly on their side anymore, he seemed to be doing things his way. Her inner thoughts were cut short when she found herself pinned under Xander never having felt the sudden movement that occurred.

"No, I win." He said to her as quietly as shop had spoken, the position between the two had changed, were Buffy had been sitting on Xander to keep him on the floor; his whole body was stretched over hers. One of his hands had pinned both of Buffy's above her head by covering her wrists, with a leg between hers to stop her from trying to knee him in an attempt to get free, the only thing that was stopping Xander's body from being directly on her was his free hand that was parallel with Buffy's shoulder holding him up. He stayed there staring down at Buffy as he watched her eyes darken having an idea of what was running through her air, if the way she was looking at him was any idea.

"If you win, you deserve a prize." She practically purred at him raising her head, unlike the first time Buffy tried to kiss Xander there was no reluctance from him this time as his own head was lowering towards the slayer, the two of them obviously forgetting just where they were and who was around them. A loud cough brought to two back to the world and the fact that they were the centre of attention in the school gym, for his part Xander merely looked up at the coach with a raised eyebrow not moving from his position above Buffy while the blonde slayer blushed brightly from the embarrassment of what nearly happened.

"Now that I have your attention, the lesson is over." The coach said looking at the pair in amusement, unlike other teachers who would have stopped them earlier he had allowed Buffy and Xander to do whatever it was that they were going to do until it looked like it was about to get out of hand. A number of the students who weren't giving either one of them slightly jealous looks had the same amused expression on their face as the coach, Faith included, Xander looked back down at Buffy who seemed to be getting herself back under control and was trying to push him off of her albeit weakly with her newly released hands. Pushing himself up off of the slayer Xander took several steps away slowly before turning around and walking into the changing rooms ignoring all the stares he was getting from the other students. Faith and Willow slowly walked over to Buffy with Oz now trailing behind the red head a look of confusion etched on his face.

"Err B, I know I said get your freak on with X, but I didn't mean in the middle of a lesson." Faith laughed helping her fellow slayer up off the floor were Buffy looked like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole. "But also props for trying to lay claim to him in view of everyone, telling them that he's yours and they should back the fuck away." Buffy looked at Faith while she was talking remembering full well the fallout with Willow from the time that Xander had picked her up and carried her just after Halloween, she had no doubt that this had the potential to cause a bigger rift between the two of them something that should have worried her; but thinking back to how she felt when she was about to kiss Xander minutes before she honestly thought that she wanted to kiss him and was disappointed she couldn't was the bigger issue. Turning to head towards the female changing rooms themselves Buffy stopped when she saw Xander walking back out no signs that he'd just been sparring with the slayer, with no sign of him waiting for any of them Buffy had no idea what to think about what had just happened until he was walking past her there was a smirk on his face as he made eye contact with her earning a smile off of Buffy herself.

Leaving the gym behind Xander heard the door close as he headed towards the exit of the school; he knew that he should still be angry for Buffy for her betrayal last week the fact that he rejected her apology was proof that he was still angry with her, but when she was on the floor looking at him the way she did the anger left his body to a extent. No matter how he tried it seemed that cutting off anything to do with Buffy was going to be impossible, when she turned up at his house not long ago and kissed him he put down as a once in a life time type of thing but right now he didn't know. He wasn't stupid, the fact that he was getting attention from her after the change from Halloween had to be a factor in it and maybe it was part of him being hopeful but he wanted that fact to not be a large factor in the way she was acting around him now. Walking across the short cut grass of the school grounds Xander looked out at the houses that were nearest to Sunnydale High, just how people didn't know what went on in this town confused him. The fact that only two years ago he had been one of those people didn't make sense to him anymore either, the mysterious deaths that were put on the news or the disappearances of people nearly every night; if someone took the time to actually look at the death rate from Sunnydale and they weren't from the town then it would lead to a lot of questions being asked, but did that mean people who were higher up knew about the hell mouth.

Turning away to start walking in a different direction as he heard the bell going signalling the start of the next class Xander saw something standing across the street looking right at the school, he knew the chances are he wouldn't have noticed it if he didn't have his improved eyesight even under his sunglasses but it caught his attention. Cutting across the grass so he could walk on the pavement path that would lead out of the school and into the main street Xander could make out only a few details on just what was staring back at him, it definitely wasn't human; all black clothe covered the creatures body apart from the eyes, which gave it away as being supernatural. While he had a hard time trying to distinguish what colour they were from this distance the fact that he could see the shine on them told him all he needed to know. His pace picked up as he watched the being disappear into an alleyway near the house and was just about to break into a run after it when a hand landed on his back, spinning around to see who was there a low growl built up in this throat as he saw principle Snyder snarling back at him.

"Don't you have class to go to?" he asked having to tilt his head up to look at Xander who brushed the hand off of his shoulder and walked back towards the school, not before giving one last fleeting glance to where the creature had gone.

* * *

Buffy, Willow and Faith all sat at the table in the library as Giles stood near the door of his office looking at Wesley who was currently pacing up and down nervousness coming off of him in waves. None of the three had any idea to as of why Faith's new watched had come for them at lunch telling them they were wanted in the library now, and he hadn't offered any explanation.

"Mr Giles found the demon you say Xander killed last night." He said quietly having to calm himself down; he had told Giles that he would tell them as he was Faith's watcher as well as someone that would be watching how he reacted around Buffy to push him back in the right direction. "It's called a Mohra demon; they're often used as assassins for high paying people." A small smile lit but both slayers faces.

"So X did us a favour by killing it then, no more assassin." Faith reaching over the table to high-five Buffy, who laughed. The happy mood wasn't shared by the watchers who looked at each other before turning back to look at the trio that were currently sitting there.

"I'm afraid Xander didn't kill it." Giles said taking over from Wesley, "It appears the only way to kill one of these demons is to shatter the jewel that's embedded in their head. Any other methods simply incapacitates them for a while until they regenerate. When the demon is for lack of a better term alive again it goes through a metamorphoses of a sort, it will become much larger than it had been tapping into more of its strength, which gives it a more substantial muscle mass. Of course it will become more aggressive and extremely more durable than it ever had been." Giles' sentence brought a hushed silence over the library. "Tonight you and Faith will have to hunt the demon and kill it."

* * *

Buffy, Faith and Angel were walking around Sunnydale trying to find just where the demon would have gone after healing; the first place they had gone was the part where Xander had killed it but there was no trace of it being there and Angel was unable to pick up its scent which told them it had healed some time ago and left that area. But the problem now came in finding where it went, Faith had thought it could have possibly gone after Xander as he was the one that supposedly killed it last night so there was a revenge aspect to it, but Angel had quickly shot that idea down saying that he wasn't going to spend the night going after Xander to make sure he was safe. Buffy for her part hadn't talked a lot since the patrol started, her thoughts were pretty much preoccupied by a silver eyes male who she had nearly kissed that day and who she wanted to kiss, she was thankful that Faith's teasing hadn't carried on throughout the day having stopped after they found out the demon was still alive.

"All I'm saying is that X snapped this things neck last night, if this was me I'd go after the guy that did that and snap his." Faith said once again trying to get them to at least think of the possibility of it going after Xander, Angel frowned at the brunette slayer and turned away looking at Buffy who had stopped and stared at Faith looking like she was weighing what she had just said before following Angel again. Faith couldn't believe that they weren't even going to listen to her; Buffy had shocked her more though she had thought she had gotten through to her and it seemed like she had in the gym when she watched her and Xander almost kiss but not it seemed that she was more interested in doing what Angel thought was the better idea and not bother with checking on Xander. Of course she wanted to be wrong in thinking that it would go after him because she didn't want him to be hurt but part of her wanted it to at the same time just so she could tell them that she had been right and they were wrong. Stopping outside a rundown shop Angel turned to look at both slayers.

"Something's in here." He said before turning back around and kicking the door in, the three champions rushed inside to see what was rutting around in the shop when they came face to face with the Mohra demon and the colour drained from both slayers. Giles had been right with what he said about it, last night it had been roughly the height of Xander and slightly slimmer but now it stood a good three or four inches taller than Angel and what looked like two times as wide. "I think we found the demon." The souled vampire said before charging it the broadsword he had been given by Buffy raised in his hand, the two slayers quickly followed suit and went after the demon their own weapons ready to be used if necessary.

Parrying the swing from Angel the Mohra demon grabbed hold of his wrist and started to squeeze until the sword fell from the vampires grip, with a pop of its hips it tossed Angel across the shop sending him flying into a bookcase and onto the floor after it. If the demon thought that it was going to be given time to go after the vampire to follow up on its attack it was mistaken and both Buffy and Faith launched themselves at it, working as a team both slayers alternated on how they were attacking the demon. One second Buffy would be landing blow after blow to its face while Faith worked on the lower body and the next they would dodge one of its attacks and then swap with each other. Being staggered after a kick to her stomach Buffy barely had time to dive out of the way and a large hook that was aimed at her head, panting slightly as she was crouched on the floor Buffy watched Faith try in vain to damage the demon with a vicious combo and punches and kicks; it didn't take long before she too was sending sprawling through the air and crashing onto a item inside the shop.

This gave Angel an opening as he sprung back to his feet and went after the demon his face contorted into his vampire visage as he pounced on the creatures back and attempted to sink his fangs into its neck. That was what would have happened if the demon didn't stumble around trying to get the vampire off of him, the sudden attack had taken it by surprise but the erratic movements by the demon was enough to force Angel off of its back but not before he ferociously kicked at the back of its knee. The lurch forwards was one of the first signs of weakness that had been shown by the improved demon, the stumble forwards was met with the backhand of Buffy and then a wooden chair leg being smashed across its face by Faith, not even dropping to a knee the Mohra demon let out a demonic scream before drawing its sword from the inside of its robes. Seeing it now armed and even more dangerous than it had been both Buffy and Faith drew their own weapons out and Angel rolled forward picking his sword back up ready to the encounter, not wasting any time by allowing either of the three champions to attack it again the Mohra demon swung at Faith first with a low swipe looking to cut her knees off with the force of it, unable to have the time to block the swipe Faith used her agility to back flip away from the attack giving both Angel and Buffy the time to move away from being caught themselves. The fact that the demon was now bent over and unable to protect itself sent the three of them into a flurry of motion each taking strong swings at it going for power over speed as each sword swing was intended to take a chunk out of the demon hoping to slow it down long before for them to be able to shatter the jewel in its head and end the fight, drawing back with her sword Buffy took a third swing at the demon once again watching as her weapon sunk into its skin earning another shriek of pain as she tore the sword out not before twisting it hoping to cause as much damage as possible. Looking at the slayer after the sword had been removed from its arm the Mohra demon seemed to snap as it parried a swipe by Faith and hit her with the hilt of the sword knocking her to the floor, Angel was watching Buffy as her eyes widened and she started to back track from the demon slightly in fear of the sudden surge of power it had. Rushing at it to save his girlfriend Angel was met with a slash across his chest which promptly dropped the vampire to the floor in a heap.

As the Mohra demon took another step towards Buffy who was now standing there looking very much like she did on her first patrol a shadow formed over the large green demon darkening even more, turning around to see just what was there both Buffy and the Mohra demon saw a figure in a long black cloak crouched down on the railing that was on the second floor of the shop two large curved blades in its hands; without warning the figure flew off of the railing and at the demon pinning it to the floor with the sudden weight and both blades stabbing it in the shoulders. This seemed to shake Buffy from her fear induced daze and she rushed forwards ready to try and smash the jewel on the demons head with the best chance that had so far been seen, utilizing its strength the demon grabbed the newcomer around the throat and tossed him off of it right into the oncoming Buffy sending them both to the floor. It was only as she rolled over and back to her knees did Buffy see that it was Xander who had appeared and attacked the demon, the hood that had been covering his face had been knocked off then he was sent flying into her. The Furyan powered human for his part had rolled out of the cloak as soon as he hit the floor and was now in a crouching position staring at the Mohra demon that without a care tore both blades from its body and dropped them to the floor.

"Why isn't this thing dead?" Xander asked Buffy as both of them dived in different directions avoiding the sword them slammed into the concrete floor were they had been seconds before.

"You have to destroy the jewel in its head." Buffy called back to him as she watched Angel get back to his feet and glare at Xander who was now picking both of his blades back up before offering Faith a hand which she promptly took and smirked at him. Taking Buffy's words in Xander pulled the small blade that was hidden in his wrist bracer out and tossed it as hard as he could at the jewel sitting in the centre of the demons head, three of the four of them held their breath as they watched as the blade sailed though the air spinning as it neared the jewel in the demons head. Bringing up its sword the Mohra demon cut the blade in two both pieces flying harmlessly past it before hitting the floor, while it might have been a pipe dream of an attack it had also been the best one so far that could have got the target. Seeing what happened Angel quickly charged at the demon once again bring his sword out in a arc but it seemed that the introduction of Xander to the fight had brought the demons focus back to a hundred percent as it once again blocked the attempt by the vampire, seeing him go back on the attack brought the force of both slayers at the Mohra demon swinging their own swords as they stood side by side using the numbers advantage to try and once again back the demon down to size. Running right behind Buffy and Faith was Xander who had both his knives in his hands, unlike the original three that were fighting he wasn't taking chunks out of the demons flesh but instead making deep slices through its skin cutting tendons and muscle, coming from behind the demon Angel used as much as his strength that he had left hacking at the demons back with his own sword leaving the three to attack its front.

Once again the fact that it was being assaulted in two directions was enough to force the demon to lose focus on what was happening and be opened up once again as its sword was smacked out of its hands and set flying across the room. Xander who had moved right into the demons face was slashing at it with everything he had alongside Faith, Buffy had dropped behind the pair darting forwards to stab at the demon when she could was now waiting for the next opening to reveal itself to her.

"Buffy." Xander called to her reaching back with one hand and dropping the knife out of it was waiting for her to grab hold of him, not knowing what he wanted to do but seeing the demon bleeding from numerous wounds all over its body Buffy placed her own free hand in Xander's and couldn't believe it as he swung her over his shoulder, the blonde only saw what Xander wanted her to do seconds before her feet reach the ground once again, bringing her sword over in a downward arc the Mohra demon had no chance of stopping it from slicing through and destroying the jewel in the centre of its head. The second after the jewel was destroyed the demon exploded in a green light sending the four flying in three different directions, Angel slammed into the door that he hadn't kicked through, Faith was sent into the cashiers till and Xander and Buffy were sent flying backwards directly under the start of the flooring for the second floor with the slayer landing on top of him. With a grunt Buffy rolled over so she was facing Xander who at the time was laying there with his eyes closed, gently Buffy raised her hand and ran it down the side of his face causing Xander to open his eyes again and stare at her. Since she found out what Xander was it had been hard for her to tell what emotions that shown in his eyes apart from anger and betrayal both during and after the fight but now all they showed was attraction for the blonde slayer, for the second time that day Buffy leant down and slowly let her eyes close as Xander picked his head up to meet her.

"Buffy are you ok?" Angel called out to her only now picking himself back up off the floor, the question once again brought the fact back to the both of them that they weren't alone and Buffy was the one this time that picked herself up off of Xander and turned to Angel smiling and nodding her head. Placing his hands palm down on the floor above his head Xander flicked himself back to his feet and turned at the sound of someone clapping, Faith stood less than five feet away from where Xander was with a knowing smirk on her face as she first looked at him and then to Buffy who was standing behind Angel giving Xander a shy smile. She had seen for the second time what had nearly happened between the two, frowning at Faith Xander made his way across the shop and wrapped his black cloak back around himself covering his head and face with the large hood before walking out of the shop. "Buffy, are you ok?" Angel asked for the second time noticing that she was watching Xander walk further down the street and away from them.

"I'm fine Angel." Buffy replied with a smile before looking at Faith and leaving the shop, Faith couldn't help the laugh that tore free from her throat as she followed Buffy out of the shop and down the street to her house, Angel for the second time in two nights had been left by Buffy without so much as being noticed as her boyfriend and it was starting to annoy him. Turning to leave himself the sound of something hitting the floor coming back further back in the shop caught his attention, sighing to himself he slowly turned around and headed towards the back of the shop using his vampire hearing to try and figure out just what was there; seeing a door slightly ajar he pushed it open and walked into the store room of the shop his eyes adjusting to the dim light.

"It's dangerous to be here on your own mate." A voice said from the right of him, turning to the voice Angel came face to face with Spike and was about to threaten the younger vampire when a cup of blood was tossed on him causing to gasp at the shock of it. Hearing the door slam shut suddenly Angel turned to see just what was happening when a figure dressed in black stepped into view, the only part visible was the area around his eyes, the vampire had no chance to do anything as the new entity started to chant in a demonic language and Angel could feel something almost being torn out of him before everything went black.


	9. All things must come to an end

Spike couldn't help the grin that was forming on his face as he watched Angel scream in pain as a blue vortex surrounded his body; he couldn't have planned what happened better if he tried. The master vampire had opened the door slightly during the fight with the Mohra demon and at first thought his problem would have been taken care of by the two slayers and Angel being killed, that was until the wildcard Xander turned up; he had been watching the interactions between them all since Halloween and it looked like the teenage male was being pushed further and further away but suddenly he and the slayer looked like they were about to eat each other if they had the chance with the tension around them; if Angel didn't know then he was more and an idiot then Spike thought.

"If you're finished mate." Spike said looking at Angel who had no stopped screaming but was still on the floor panting from the pain that he had just gone through so they would be able to put the slayer or slayers on the back foot and try and take control of Sunnydale for as long as possible. The scourge of Europe didn't stay on the floor for long climbing back to his feet with a blank look on his face as he stared at the demon that had removed his soul, in four steps he covered the gap separating them and snapped its neck much like Xander had done to the Mohra demon the night before.

"I guess I should say thanks." He muttered to the dead demon before turning around and looking at the now grinning Spike, nothing was said between the two vampires whose combined age was over four hundred. "Spike." Angelus grinned opening his arms looking like he wanted a hug off his grand childe, the platinum blonde vampire shook his head at him in amusement and shock that the plan had worked, so far it seemed everything in Sunnydale had gone wrong so for something this big to work was a giant plus for them. "You came up with the plan to bring me back, I'm feeling the love." Much like he had before he covered the distance between the two but this time he pulled the vampire into a hug before quickly kissing the top of his head and moving away. "I need to find someone to eat; you have no idea how long he's been drinking pig's blood." The look on Spike's face told anyone that would look that he thought Angelus had gone as insane as Drusilla was, "Won't someone love me, I can brood and wear black." Finally he turned to look at Spike with a confused look on his face. "So Spikey why bring me back?"

"We're gonna destroy the world."

* * *

Buffy was trying to keep her eyes off of Faith, who was walking next to her with the same grin that had been on her face from gym earlier that day, she knew what would come out of the other slayers mouth the second that she looked at her and there was no way that she could deal with Faith telling her how much she wanted Xander. It was something that after what happened in gym she knew herself and at the same time was trying to come to terms with, something that would be so much easier if she had been able to kiss Xander either in gym when the teacher had stopped when or ten minutes ago when it had been Angel calling out to see if she was alright that had stopped them. In the end though she could stop herself from turning to look at Faith trying as hard as she could to keep the smile off of her own face.

"If you keep smiling at me like that I'll reconsider letting you stay in my house for the next few days." She threatened knowing that she wouldn't go through with it anyway, it seemed that Faith knew she didn't mean it as well as the smile only got bigger as she now turned to look at Buffy fully as well.

"B for the second time today you and X nearly got your freak on in front of other people, I was there twice so I know that if someone didn't stop you then there could be the chance of little B's and X's in none months." Buffy had to turn away to hide the blush that was forming on her face and also the glazed over look on her face that was forming from the memory of what nearly happened twice that day already, and she didn't need Faith to tell her just how close they had been; she could still smell Xander on her as well as the fact that her body was tingling slightly from the way he had touched her. "Hey, I'm all for you and X to knock boots are do fuck like bunnies anywhere you can, but seriously make sure that there's no one else around. While stud's a stud, and I guess you might have a good bod under your clothes I didn't want to nearly see the two of you almost getting naked with each other once never mind twice in my life"

Buffy could only laugh at what Faith had said, it was clear to anyone who was the more comfortable of the two talking about this type of thing as she was still blushing slightly while the dark haired slayer seemed to be acting like they were talking about the weather. She thought that it was being a teenager that made her as conscious about her body that she was but it didn't seem like Faith had that problem having spent twenty minutes that day talking about what she would have done to Xander if he had pinned her to the floor.

"It's just that I like Xander," Buffy said shyly making it seem that she was back in junior high, the look that she received told her that Faith knew just how much she liked Xander, "But it's the thing with Willow as well, I knew that she had a thing for Xander last year. But ever since I came back from my dad's in the summer, I've been thinking what if you know?" the pair had arrived at Buffy's house and did seem to know it as they now stopped at the door and then dropped to the step. "Just before I knew about my dying against the master he asked me to go to the Spring Fling with him and I said no thinking I was in love with Angel, then that night he brought me back to life. It makes to think that someone's trying to tell you something." So caught up in what was being said neither of them noticed Joyce open the front door and look down at the pair who were currently discussing Buffy's feelings on Xander. "Since Halloween we've been getting closer to each other, and the thing in I know Willow doesn't like it. I mean she's still holding that torch for him and it's obvious that she is, but when he's been looking at me the way he has done the past few days and what's happened I don't care that she likes him because I want him to myself."

"See was that so hard?" a voice asked behind them causing both slayers to jump up, Buffy's eyes widened seeing her mum standing there with a smile on her face looking down at her daughter who seemed very much the deer caught in the headlights. "Honey you like Xander, it's no big deal, and if Willow can't see that it'll be up to him who he wants then it's not your fault." Buffy still hadn't moved looking at her mum like she had seen a ghost while Faith just stood behind the tiny slayer not hiding while she wasn't drawing attention to herself either something that was out of character for her. Normally the extreme slayer would want everyone to know that she was around them and they should pay her attention. "Now who's your friend?" Joyce asked looking at Faith who could only grin slightly.

"Err, mum this is Faith. She's just moved to Sunnydale and I kinda said that she could stay with us for a while." Buffy answered while putting on her best I'm innocent don't hit me look, it must have worked because Joyce nodded her head before turning around and walked back into the house leaving the door open for them. Looking back at her companion she could only grin in victory.

"You should have told her that I was your girlfriend." Faith laughed before walking past and entering the house, Buffy for her part didn't know what to say to something like that so just followed her into the house before closing and locking the door behind her.

"Are you sure that this Xander can be trusted around the slayers?" Wesley asked Giles as the older watcher could only role his eyes for the fourth time since letting him into his house until the council found him a place of his own. "You did say that he attacked your slayer as well as Angel and in fact defeated them both when you had set an ambush up for him trying to either find out or reverse what happened to him at Halloween." Giles couldn't see how just a day of having Wesley around him had him agreeing with some of the complaints that Buffy, Xander and Willow had made about him last year.

"I assure you that while Xander did defeat both Buffy and Angel over a week ago he would also defend her if he could." He then did something un-Giles like, "Besides if what's being said around the school is true then it would seem likely that Buffy and Xander are no longer having arguments with each other, it would be only a matter of time before they're in a relationship." There was a slightly humours look on Giles' face when he said that, he had thought that the two would have been a good pair last year but now it seemed that there could only be trouble for anyone if they did start dating.

"Mr Giles I have told you that I do not and will not get involved in high school gossip." Wesley replied with a look of annoyance on his face.

"So this is the room you have." Buffy told Faith as they stood outside the spare room, she had been more than happy when her mum had told her to show Faith the room that she would be staying in after the duo had been making fun of her after she had openly said that she wanted Xander, it of course had led to Joyce telling Faith about how Buffy had refused to even think of Xander as anything more than a friend the year before no matter what her mum had said about the two of them being a good together; in turn this had led to Faith telling Joyce about the times that the two had been close to ripping each other's clothes off in school tactfully leaving out what had gone down just before not knowing how much she had told her mum about being the slayer.

"B." Faith called as Buffy was walking back out the room, when she turned around the brunette looked like she didn't know what she had stopped her for as her eyes, "You know I was joking, downstairs." Buffy could only nod and smile at her before turning and leaving the room ready to go to bed herself.

* * *

The Sunnydale high library was as usual had the group of students in it as Buffy and Faith had arrived to tell Giles and Wesley that the Mohra demon was dead, Willow who had been talking to Oz had quickly made an excuse to leave him and walk with her two friends on the way wanting to know what happened the night prior. The only shock for them was that Xander had turned up not long after they had but instead of joining them at the table was leaning against one of the security barriers at the doors his arms folded over his chest as he stared at the wall in front of him looking like he really didn't want to be there and had been made to.

"The Mohra demon is dead?" Giles asked Buffy who like him was looking at Xander from the corner of her eyes every few seconds thinking that he would tell them why he was there when up until recently he wouldn't even look at Buffy.

"Huh." She replied while looking at Xander before quickly turning her attention back to Giles who had both eyebrows raised at her in a knowing way, "Oh yea, the Mohra demons dead. That is unless it can come back after exploding into pieces and sending everyone flying away from it." nodding in reply Giles seemed happy that they had killed the demon, he had wanted to talking about any other threats to Sunnydale namely Spike and Drusilla but from the way he watched his slayer turn to Xander frequently he doubted that anything he said would stay in her head. "It was weird Giles, one minute we were kicking its ass and the next it would just snap and destroy us before he could attack again."

"You're saying that the three of you went through went through periods of controlling the demon and then it would seem to get a rush of strength?" Giles asked turning to look at Buffy again; he had been on the way to his office to pick up a small collection of books that he wanted them to look through before lessons started to see if there was anything that might be in Sunnydale.

"Four." Buffy and Faith said at the same time earning confused looks from three of the people in the library with them, "Four." Buffy repeated while this time pointing at Xander who had half turned his head to look at them, there was a slight smirk on his face as he could see the look of disbelief that the two watchers were looking at him with; no doubt they found it hard to think he would have turned up to help when the demon this time hadn't attacked him first. "One of the times we were getting our asses handed to us Xan turned up and helped out, he managed to bring more strength to the fight took the demon off its game long enough for us to kill it."

"When he turned up he was all over it Jeeves," Faith added for her part ignoring the fact that her own watcher was in there with them, "Lucky him and B make such a good team."

"Faith as your watcher I feel that I should inform you, that if you have a report to make about a patrol it should be to me and not Mr Giles." He told her with a holier than thou attitude, as he looked at his own slayer who along with Buffy was looking at him like he had just sprouted another head. A snort from Xander at the door way brought their attention back to him as he was staring straight at Wesley, silvery brown eyes hitting brown ones. He could only shake his head as he turned to leave the library and the group behind when the younger watcher's voice stopped him. "Mr. Harris, I and Mr Giles have arranged for both Buffy and Faith to go to his house tonight so we can judge their skills in fighting, I was wondering if you'd be able to join us so we can gauge just what talents you have as well?" he offered while looking at Xander's back, silence filled the library as they all waited Xander's answer; if she were honest with herself Buffy pretty much doubted that he would accept for the main fact that while he might be letting close to her it didn't seem that Xander had forgiven any of the others for what had happened in the warehouse. The scoff that filled the room told Wesley of his answer which was driven home by the deep laughter that Xander let out of his mouth before walking out of the library doors.

"I think he just gave you your answer." Faith said trying to keep her own laughter down, Wesley looked at the door in disgust before turning to Faith ready to tell her that she was meant to respect him as he was her watcher but didn't have the chance as she stood up not before tapping Buffy on the arm. "Come on B, I think we have to do that school thing." Grinning at her sister slayer Buffy stood up and started walking towards the doors themselves, it didn't take long before the brunette tossed her arm around Buffy's shoulder. "I still think that you and X are seconds away from jumping each other, I mean sure so far both attempts haven't got you anything; but hell B you tell me when you're about to try and do it again and I'll find you somewhere to take X and make sure that no one bothers you until you've done the deed."

"Has Faith just told Buffy that she'll help her get Xander?" looking at the two watchers who looked stunned as they turned back to her having forgot that Willow had been in the room due to her mouse like quietness. The same could not be said about Xander who had managed to bring attention to himself just be entering the library.

"I'd say she has Willow." Giles replied looking at her before walking into his office Wesley trailing him.

"And then I saw her wearing the same clothes I had on the day before." Cordelia said to Harmony who looked as disgusted as Cordelia did, "I mean I know I have good taste but at least make it seem like you haven't just went out and bought my outfit the day you saw me in it." walking down the corridor neither of them saw Buffy and Faith walking in their direction until they knocked into each other. "God cant you watch were you're going?" she asked Buffy as Harmony looked at the pair in disgust, it was clear that any signs of friendship that had been there tore into Buffy on the aftermath of the attempted ambush was gone. The self appointed queen of Sunnydale High waited a few seconds before stopping in her tracks and looking over her shoulder. "Buffy have you got a second?" she called out causing Harmony and the two slayers to look at her stunned. Not waiting to see if she'd say yes or no Cordelia started walking towards them but stopped halfway and looked at the blonde expectantly. "Look I know you probably think we bonded the other day," she started when Buffy had walked over to her "but it wasn't like that, the outfit you had on was far too cute to have mascara tears on it. so now you're ok again I wanted to tell yo that I want Xander and I'll stop at nothing until I have him." once again she didn't wait to see if Buffy had a reply to her slightly threat before walking off with a smile on her face.

"What the hell did she want B?" Faith asked throwing from over her shoulder while looking at the tiny blonde at her side.

"She wanted to tell me that she wanted Xander and that she wasn't going to stop until she had him." Buffy replied looking straight ahead trying to fight off the jealousy that was forming in her stomach and the urge to run back and tackle Cordelia to the floor.

Xander's start to the day hadn't been any better than Buffy's, after having left the library he had run straight into Snyder and his evil troll like ways; it didn't take him long to accuse him of having done damage to his car that was in the parking lot, and the teenage male thought he deserved a prize for not picking the four and a half foot principle up and putting him in the nearest garbage can head first. Taking a seat that was as close to the back of the room as he could get Xander tried his best to drone out whatever his teacher was talking about in Algebra, he'd go out on a limb and say that any future employer wouldn't care that much if he knew what the square root of T was.

"Mr Harris." The teacher's voice rang causing him to pick his head up from the desk, "I have asked you for the third time that is Y equals 57, and R is Y cubed what is P?" the whole class turned to look at Xander to see if he had any idea of what the answer was, among those that were staring at him was Oz who looked genuinely interested if Xander had the answer while Larry who was sat a few seats in front of him was merely looking back with a sneer on his face.

"Do I look as if I care what P is?" Xander replied, there were a number of students that burst into laughter at his reply while the teacher didn't know what to say, knowing what was going to come next Xander stood up from his chair and left the class having no intention of giving the teacher the chance to send him to Snyder for whatever punishment the troll could come up with that he thought would fit the crime.

Not having thought ahead properly it came to Xander when he was outside the class that the problem with walking out meant you had nothing to do until the next class started unless to managed to creep outside the school gates. Not in the mood to be caught by any teachers that didn't have a class then the Furyan/Human teenager started walking towards the library hoping that there would be no one in there so he would have some quiet, slightly shocked that the fact he had run into anyone in the corridors Xander pushed the library doors open and stepped inside taking a look around to see if Giles or the Giles wannabe was around. Happy that the library was dead of life he walked over to the weapons cabinet, standing next to the door Xander grabbed hold of the padlock and pulled it off snapping it in the process, with a smirk on his face he quickly dropped the broken pieces of metal inside the cage as he walked in looking at the different types of training equipment that was in there. Unlike either slayer he had no need to train himself with different types of weapons and so had picked up the punching bag that was inside the cage as well as the frame for it to be hung on.

Placing the frame in the centre of the library and hung the bag on it, not wasting any time on warm ups Xander went to work on the punch bag with a series of hooks that made it impossible for the bag to stay in one place for more than a second. He had shown the day before that he didn't have the martial arts style that Buffy had but his strength, speed and hand-eye co-ordination were right up there with both slayers, the impact of skin meeting leather with the force he was throwing into his punches was enough to make someone was being beaten up inside the library. It might have only have been luck that there was no one else in that area of the school if like him they were skipping a class because if they had seen the way that the frame of the punching bag was shaking violently it would have brought up some uncomfortable questions.

* * *

Standing outside the metal door Buffy was starting to feel more and more nervous, she knew that this was the right thing to do if she wanted to be with Xander which of last night she was sure about; she knew that if she didn't want to be with him then there wouldn't have been so many occasions were the two of them had been so close to kissing each other, and as Faith had kindly put it screwing like rabbits. The problem was she didn't know how she was going to tell Angel that she didn't want to be with him anymore, she was no idiot and knew that things hadn't been the same between them since Halloween and it didn't change the fact that the two of them had been together near enough from as soon as Buffy had turned up in Sunnydale, she truly didn't want to hurt anyone but Buffy also wasn't an idiot and she knew that the longer she acted like she wanted Xander while she was with Angel would only result in her being hurt.

Gathering her courage she knocked on Angel's door twice making sure that he knew someone was outside, she didn't know the last time she had felt like this; it was the nervousness you got when you had to go to the dentist or the hospital for a check-up and you had no idea if they were going to say something was wrong, luckily for her it didn't take long for her vampire boyfriend to answer the door.

"Angel we need to talk." Those four words let anyone who had them said to them know just what was coming next and it was never anything good, but to the shock of the slayer he didn't look bothered in the least at what she had just said; instead he looked slightly amused by her being there. "Errm, this isn't easy for me to say and I want you to know that the last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you. But since Halloween we've been drifting further and further apart, and I think that it'd be best for us if we broke up." She said with a certain amount of regret in her voice that was too much to be fake, she didn't know if he'd believe her or not but she was telling the when she had said that she didn't want to hurt him, until her feelings for Xander had started to change she had cared deeply for the vampire and she wanted them to part on good terms.

"So you finally gave it up to Harris." Angel said looking at her coldly; there was no mistaking the look of shock that formed on Buffy's face as she stared at him. "Come on Buff, I've got eyes. Did you think that I didn't see the two of you last night? The fact that the two of you stunk of each other was the dead giveaway, so what was it? did you give him a happy in the school showers? Or did he make you scream in a closet?" the tiny slayer looked close to tears as she listened to Angel verbally tear her down without remorse.

"Why are you being like this?" she asked a tear now rolling down her cheek but that did nothing to sway Angels' cold and calculated down on his face as he stared down at her, "Why are you being so cruel?"

"I'm being cruel?" Angel asked moving around the room so now he was right in front of her, "Aren't you the one that's breaking up with me? I'm sorry if being dumped for silver eyes doesn't exactly bring out the champion in me Buff, but what'd you want me to say? You haven't denied a thing that I've said to you about last night or when you two are at school." Turning his back on Angel was able to hide the smile that formed on his face when he heard Buffy leave his house and the door slam shut, it had been all too easy for him to poke at the spots he knew would get that type of reaction out of Buffy and at the same time send her running straight to Xander; the question was, was Buffy smart enough to know what to bring up around the boy.

Having broke out into a run when she left Angel's house Buffy was quickly trying to get from one part of Sunnydale to the other without being stopped, she couldn't believe that Angel, her Angel would say those things to her. She knew that she had been getting closer to Xander but to hear that he knew what had almost she didn't know how to cope with that piece of information and was now going to the one person that she knew would be able to give her the comfort that she needed. Banging on the same door that she had done a week and a half prior luck was on Buffy's side as Xander unlocked the door and could only raise his eyebrow at the sight of the teary eyed slayer, not wasting any time Buffy threw her arms round Xander's chest and sunk into his body as she now let the tears out that she had been holding in while Angel had said the things he had.

"Buffy, wait are you doing here?" he asked her now loosely wrapping his arms around the slayer, from the way that they had been around each other this hadn't been what he had expected the next time she knocked on his door, but from the sounds of her sobbing he knew that she wasn't thinking of him right now the way she had been yesterday.

"It's Angel." That one name caused Xander's body to tense up and he was more than ready to remove the slayer from his body when she tightened her grip around him, "I went to his house then to talk and the things he said to me. It was cruel, it was like he set out to hurt me and got a kick out of it; I don't know what I did to him that forced him to say those things but they didn't come from my Angel." A bitter laugh tore free from Xander's throat as this time he was able to pull out of Buffy's grip forcing her to look at her with confused and hurts eyes. "Xander?"

"Your Angel?" he asked taking a step away from her when she tried to touch him again, he should have known that something like this would have happened but truthfully he hadn't expected it to for some bizarre reason. "So what? Angel has an argument with you and you run straight here to me?" he asked Buffy his anger and rage were slowly building up as a sense of rejection was forming in his gut, this was so much worse then what had happened at the Spring Fling or even when she had came back that summer, because this time it seemed that she wanted him more than the vampire. "Is that what this is going to be Buffy? You like me enough when we're at school or even fighting a demon but suddenly it's your Angel again. Go home Buffy." He said turning away from her, he didn't know what had brought this sudden wave of destructive anger out but he knew that he needed to hit something and the longer she stood there the more inviting her face looked.

"Xander I don't understand." She whispered tears once again forming in her green eyes as she looked at his back, quietly she took a step forward and placed her hand on his back hoping that he'd turn around and tell her what had brought on his anger so suddenly; but as soon as she touched him he jumped further away like she had burnt him before looking over his shoulder.

"I said go home." He spat this time at her, his anger made his voice come out much deeper and gave it a gravel like sound to it, she didn't know what to say to him the anger in his voice made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her right now and once again she was felt feeling hurt.

As soon as the door closed Xander's body sprung into action, storming towards the basement were he nearly ripped the door off its hinges as he tossed it open, this wasn't a time to be calm and relaxed this was a time for him to let his anger out on some vampire or demon that crossed his path. Deciding against using his black cloak he grabbed his two curved blades and slotted them through the belt loops on his jeans before grabbing hold of his leather jacket and placing a smaller rock like blade in the inside pocket. The front door was the next one that would feel his anger as it too was thrown open with a vengeance and then slammed closed as he stepped into the cool night, from the state Buffy was in the doubted that she had gotten very far and could possibly only be down the road, walking in the direction that he guessed the slayer took to get to his house Xander took the first left he saw not interested in running into her on the streets.

He could honestly say that he didn't have a clue to what Buffy's deal was, yesterday she was near enough all over him and only minutes before she had been at his door crying because Angel hadn't talked to her the way she wanted him to. It was pretty obvious to Xander that she wanted from around when his craved affection that she could only get off of him and Angel around when she wanted the vampires affection, there was no way he was going to play second to overbite having Buffy running to him one minute and Angel the next; the next time he saw the blonde slayer he'd let her know that it was time for her to make a decision him or the vampire. He should have known better then to even think Buffy would want anything to do with him if she were still willing to go to Angel. The two slayers and now two watchers were meant to be at Giles discussing a training regime that was supposed to make improvements in the slayers abilities; he somehow doubted that Buffy would have gone after her conversation with him, he had turned down the opportunity to go himself earlier in the day when Wesley had asked him if he would show just what he could do.

His aimless walking had led him straight into the centre of Sunnydale, it confused him to no end that people would even come to this run down town; there was nothing to do here, he didn't think that Sunnydale gave anywhere a product that you couldn't find else were and the chances are without a hell mouth twist on it. His first idea had been to go to the Bronze, but chose not to; there was far too much of a risk that he'd run into someone there and right now all he wanted to do was to be left alone, hearing what he guessed someone thinking was walking quietly Xander slowed his own pace down as he discreetly put his hand in the inside pocket of the jacket he was wearing and grasped a small stone like blade he had taken a shine to when he wasn't using the much larger curved ones. Spinning on his heel and ready to slash the person across the throat Xander stopped himself from bringing the  
blade out when he saw who had been behind him.

"Next week."He repeated taking the tickets from Oz's hands with a slightly nod of thanks, as of right now he had absolutely no idea to who he was going to take; ask him earlier in the day he might have said Buffy if he didn't push right by you. Xander placed a hand on Oz's shoulder in a sign of respect before looking like he was going to turn away before stopping and looking him in the eye once again.

"Run home, it's not safe out." The piece of advice could have been taken many ways but Oz turned and with a quicker pace went back the way he came, there had been something hidden in Xander's voice when he told him to run home that he couldn't place; it wasn't a threat but at the same time some people might have thought that he was threatening Oz. Watching Oz walk back up the street with a sense of urgency Xander slowly turned to face the way he had been going, his silver eyes  
narrowed when he saw Angel standing five feet away from him; while he didn't have the hearing of a slayer he thought that he should have least felt the vampire staring at his back the way he was.

"What do you want?" not getting a reply confused Xander as he knew the vampire was easy to bait. "You know no one's here to stop me finishing what was started at the warehouse."

"Oh no should I run home and only come out again when I promise to play nice with others?" Angel laughed, only adding to the confusion that was running through Xander at the minute. "How about I run to Buffy and tell her you're threatening me." He scoffed at this before a smirk formed on his face, "You and me both know that she's only good for one thing and it isn't fighting. Angel stopped and looked at Xander as if he were examining something, "Oh you don't know do you? For the cool changes you went through Buffy still won't go near you, it must suck to be that much of a loser."

"Well if that's the way you see me, I think you'll blush a pretty pink when I kick your ass." He hadn't moved five feet when a whistling sound could be heard flying through the air, ready to take another step that would led to a charging tackle at Angel, Xander froze when he felt something piercing his chest. Looking down he could only raise an eyebrow at the arrow head that was sticking through his chest, by the looks of things narrowly missing his heart. With a growl he took another step at the vampire when he felt the same sensation, he looked up at the vampire that was standing there with a shit eating grin on his face as a small trail of blood trickled down Xander's face. Arrogance filling his body Angelus rushed over and drilled Xander in the jaw with a thunderous uppercut that sent the teenager flying through the air before crashing back first onto the floor forcing the arrows through his body even further.

"You stay here I'll go get help." Angelus said looking down at Xander before running off into the darkness laughing.

* * *

**A/n: I promise next chapter you'll get B/X loving**


	10. Before they can take off again

Laying on the floor Xander's eyes were scrunched up in pain as every movement no matter how small seemed to push the two arrows further into his body, a light cough escaped his mouth and with it blood that landed on the bottom of his chin. Slowly he tried to pull himself into a sitting position using his hands to grab hold on anything on the floor that would help him, bitterly he realised that Angel had outsmarted him in every way, he knew just the right buttons to push on Xander's new short temper and while goading him had someone behind the teenager ready with the arrows to fire off. After his attempts of sitting himself up failed Xander gingerly picked his right hand up and placed it on the closest arrow to him, grabbing hold of it he took a gasp of air which mixed with the blood in his mouth, ready to tear the arrow from his chest.

"That doesn't seem like the best idea." A male voice said to Xander placing their own hand around his and prying it off of the arrow, having to reopen to his to see just who had stopped him Xander knew that he wasn't in the best position to defend himself against any vampires that would want to kill him, he knew that he hadn't made any friends since Halloween and it wouldn't have been for something on the Hell mouth to take this chance and kill him. "Looks like he really got you good huh?" with his vision blearing Xander's usual perfect night sight had trouble seeing just who was by him especially as he wasn't able to get to his feet, from what he could tell it was a male that was hovering around him; a leather coat was blowing in the slight breeze with the only other thing he was able to make out at the time was the fedora.

"If you're not going to help me, then fuck off." Xander ground out once again trying to get to his feet; he couldn't have cared less how odd it looked with him trying to stand up with two arrows in him, what he hadn't expected was the hand going under his arm and pulling him up. He turned to the male at his side not having expected help off of him when he felt the arm go around his back, he had no idea why he was being helped when the other male started to walk him towards the opposite side of the street and to a car that hadn't been parked there when Angel was around.

"A word of advice kid, don't tell people what to do when you've got arrows in your chest and you can't stand. Even if you do have Furyan in you." The last sentence was the one that grabbed Xander's attention and as quick as he could in his state he turned to look at the male not knowing if he should try to attack to run when all he saw was a fist flying at his head. Grabbing hold of Xander before he hit the floor the male opened the back seat of the car with one hand and then struggled to place the teenager in it on his side so there wouldn't be any more damage casued. "By the way kid, the names Whistler." He said before walking around to the driver's seat and getting in, with a look back to make sure that his passenger was still knocked out a grin formed on Whistler's face before he started driving in a random direction. "The Powers That Be thought this was the way that would stop too many deaths. They saw Angel and the slayer getting too close last year and so let you keep what you received at Halloween, bingo the slayer lost interest in Angel and wanted you. They never thought Spike would have had a way to bring Angelus forth without the slayer giving him a happy, there's a risk thought; you running around with a Furyan in your head, even they don't know how that will end up."

A car suddenly darting in front of Whistler's forced him to hit the brakes sharply, hearing something banging around on the back seat he turned to make sure that Xander's position on his side hadn't changed forcing the arrows into him further. "I hate American drivers; because they're loud they get to cut in front of you." Whistler seemed ready to carry on talking to the unconscious Xander when he saw the hospital had slipped behind them; cursing to himself the balance demon quickly preformed an illegal u-turn before shooting back to the hospital and stopping in the ambulance zone. "Kid you better get through his otherwise I'll come after you and drag you back to Sunnydale myself." He muttered picking Xander up with ease that seemed bizarre seeing as how he had only helped Xander to the car when he found him.

The receptionist at Sunnydale general was sat idly typing away on the computer in front of her, for some reason it was a slow night in Sunnydale which seemed odd, since having moved there the year before she had found the hospital was usually over run with patients that had the strangest injuries to them. Looking up at the waiting room that only had one or two waiting family members in it wanting to know how their son/daughter, mother/father were doing, knowing that there wasn't going to be anyone coming down any time soon to tell anyone how their family was she turned back to the computer she was working on when a loud gasp rang around the waiting room. Looking up at what had casued the shock she nearly jumped out of her seat in horror, laying across the reception desk was what looked like a teenage male with two arrows embedded in his back and easily coming out through his chest, her eyes darted around the room hoping to see someone that had put the teenager there but all she could see was shocked and scared faces looking at the male who was currently bleeding on the desk.

"I need someone down here now with a trolley." She screamed into the phone that was at her desk before hanging up and looking back at the teenager laying there unsure of what she should do while the doctors were on their way down to see what had happened.

* * *

Buffy's mood had gone from bad to worse after leaving Xander's house from the argument that had happened there, well it was more like he snapped at her for talking to Angel and then going to him in tears. She had quickly found a pay phone and called Giles saying that she wouldn't be able to go to his house tonight, she had been surprised when Giles had told her that faith had also cancelled on the training session saying that the brunette slayer had told him she was doing some slayer bonding with Buffy at her house instead. She had no idea if Faith had wanted to spend time with her or if it had just been an excuse to get herself and Buffy out of training hoping that the blonde would have a reason to not go either, granted Buffy had wanted to spend more time with Xander when she first left her house that night; thinking that they would finally get their relationship or whatever it was going properly but that plan that been shot down. 

When she got to her front door she wiped her eyes once again hoping that any trace of tears had long gone from her slow walk home, trying to put at semi happy grin on her face Buffy opened the front door and stepped inside her normal warm and comforting home. It was fair to say that seeing Faith standing at the foot of the stairs looking like she didn't know what to do with herself as her nervous pacing showed forced Buffy to stop in her tracks, the movement though at caught the other slayers attention and she turned to look at Buffy with what seemed to be worry in her eyes.

"She's here Joyce." Faith called, her voice cracking slightly, Buffy's mum came running in from what she guessed was the kitchen before stopping in front of her daughter tears filling the older woman's eyes which only served to further confuse Buffy as she stared at her mum and Faith. "B, it's X." Faith offered as explanation to Buffy who still had no idea what was happening or why her mum looked like she had just been given the worst news in the world.

"Buffy the hospital just phoned," Joyce said taking her daughter by the hand and walking her into the living room with Faith following them, "Xander was found on the reception desk, with two arrows in him." she could do nothing but watch as the colour drained from her daughters face much as it had Faiths when Joyce had turned around and told her what the phone call was about. "Apparently we had been put down as the contact for Xander sometime last year. The uh, receptionist said that there wasn't anyone with Xander, she turned away to look at her computer and when she looked back he was on top of the desk. No one saw anything." Buffy dropped onto the couch behind her as she looked at her mum, who had knelt down to see if her daughter was ok; Faith who didn't know what to do or say in this type of situation knowing her normal 'don't give a fuck' attitude would only cause trouble and the fact that she obviously did care from the way she had reacted to finding out why the hospital had phoned.

"We have to go the hospital." Buffy said quietly looking at her mum and Faith who was hovering behind her, the same thoughts seemed to be passing through her sister slayer's mind as Faith quickly left the living room before coming back with both Joyce's and her own coat Buffy still wearing hers jumped out of her seat and started walking to the door. Joyce watched both teenage girls leave the house before following them, her car keys already in hand as she knew that they would expect her to be behind them, she knew that it would hit Buffy hard having heard her daughter come to the conclusion that she wanted to be in a relationship with Xander yesterday on the porch step but she seemed to be taking it better than was expected almost like she didn't believe what she had been told unless she saw it with her own eyes.

There was silence in the car for the drive to the hospital none of the three females knew what to say to each other, the fact that Willow hadn't been phoned didn't seem to register on their minds as Joyce sped down the roads to the hospital hoping that Buffy wasn't going to explode with the way she was glaring at her mum's choice of speed watching as other cars overtook the. While her daughter would call it slow Joyce called her speed ten miles over the speed limit and lucky that no cops were on the road, she had once made the mistake of offering her daughter a driving lesson and then spent the next hour keeping her eyes closed and praying that they didn't hit anything.

"Buffy what good would it do for us to arrive at the hospital needing to be rushed in?" she asked feeling the glare not leaving her back, trying not to be noticed she was carefully slowing her speed down to what it should be without either of her passengers knowledge. Her question remained unanswered as silence once again filled the car so much that you would think the three of them were on the way to a funeral or they had a fight with each other and couldn't believe they had to be in the same car. Buffy looked at Faith who was staring out the window in what seemed to be boredom as the journey continued, she didn't know how the brunette could be so calm while she felt like she was going to die if she had to be in the car for any longer.

As soon as the car pulled into the hospital parking lot Buffy threw the door open and ran off dodging cars that were either arriving or leaving with Faith hot on her heels both of them seemed like it was the end of the world if they didn't get to the reception desk unless they were sweating. With a much more composed posture Joyce turned the engine of the car off before stepping out of the car and closing the two doors that the teenagers had left open in their rush to get inside, she was well aware of the looks she was receiving off of the drivers that Buffy and Faith had run out in front of but ignored them all; she knew full well that Buffy was too old for her to shout at when she caught up to her daughter ad Faith was no relation to her so she had no right to say anything about the way the brunette had fled her car.

"We're looking for Xander Harris." Buffy said as she and Faith ran to the reception desk and stared at the woman, who stared at them like they were crazy. The red taint to the desk was no doubt were Xander had been placed when he had been spotted by the receptionist but right now she was in no mood to deal with teenagers.

"Unfortunately we're only allowing family members information of patients of the hospital. Are any of you family of Mr Harris?" she asked looking at her and seeing slightly when she saw both of them shake their head in the negative, "then I can't let you through nor can I tell you anything about his condition until a family member clears it." Buffy and Faith couldn't believe they'd phoned Buffy's house to tell her that Xander was in the hospital but now wouldn't tell them anything or let them past to try and find his room, her temper coming out Buffy's fist slammed into the desk casuing a small dent as she snarled down at the receptionist all the anger and frustration from the past few hours coming through her at once. "Miss, if you can't control yourself then I'm going to have you removed from the hospital." Looking like she wanted nothing more than to slay the receptionist Buffy spun away from the desk ready to kill the first person that looked at her wrong, luck it seemed was on the receptionist's side as Joyce was standing a few feet away from Buffy and Faith, taking a look at their faces she made her way over to the desk with the air of someone of great importance.

"We've been phoned about Xander Harris being taken into surgery." Joyce said looking down at the other woman almost daring her to refuse them access to the hospital to see how he was doing. Looking at Joyce the same way she had Buffy and Faith the receptionist seemed ready to tell her the same thing that she had just said, "I don't care that we're not his family, it's on your records that I'm the person that is to be contacted if Xander Harris is brought in, so I and my daughters have every right to know how he is and be able to see him." the fact that she had said daughter's didn't go unnoticed by Faith or Buffy as they both looked at each other but didn't dare say anything in case they blew whatever it was Joyce was doing up.

"I'll have someone come and get you." The receptionist replied looking like she wanted nothing more then to be able to throw all three of them out of the hospital. Buffy couldn't help the small squeal that escaped her mouth hearing that they'd be able to see Xander, she had gone from angry and worried to happy and still worried. "I have three people down here to see Xander Harris, they're his emergency contact. Ok." Turning to look back at Joyce who hadn't moved from her spot at the desk the receptionist couldn't stop the glare at formed on her face, "A doctor will be down soon to see you." She told them before turning away to look back at her computer, pleased with what had happened Joyce turned to look at Buffy and Faith with a bitter smile on her face, sure she'd got a doctor to be spent down so they could find out how Xander was, but there was nothing to be happy about unless they were told he'd be fine.

It didn't take long for a doctor to come into the waiting room, the three women had taken seats up near the reception desk and had on numerous occasions received angry glares from the receptionist. Seeing the doctor looking around forced Buffy onto her feet as she jumped from her seat but then stopped herself from going over to him, she didn't know if he was there to tell them about Xander or if he was there to talk to other people about someone brought in.

"Who's here with Xander Harris?" he asked looking around once again but this time stopping on the trio when he saw most people turn to face them, quickly making his way over he took a seat opposite Joyce as Faith and Buffy moved so they were sitting next to the older woman. "I'm sure that you are aware of the condition Xander was in when he was found at the hospital?" he asked getting three nods back as they stared at him in silence, "We're really not too sure just how he ended up with two arrows in him, I wasn't sure weapons like that could be found in this town but it seems like it's full of surprises. Luckily both arrows missed Xander's heart just by a fraction which made our job a lot easier, but one of them did manage to nick his left lung slightly." The worried looks of the faces made the doctor hurry up sensing that they wouldn't be able to sit there much longer with him talking to them like this. "It casued some minor internal bleeding but I'm happy to say we were able to stitch him up and he'll be as good as new." There was a trio of relived sighs as the women dropped further back into the seats as the doctor stood up and turned to leave them waiting room. "I can take you to his room if you want."

Buffy had Faith were trailing Joyce and the doctor on the way to Xander's room, neither slayer had said anything yet still absorbing the fact that Xander would be ok. Knowing that he wasn't in life threatening danger forced Buffy to think about their last talk, she still wasn't sure what had set him off the way he had but she did know that the two of them would be having another talk as soon as he was out of the hospital. She nearly walked into her mum as she stopped suddenly taking Buffy out of her thoughts, looking around at the other people with her Buffy found them giving her strange looks due to the way she had tried to keep walking.

"This is his room," the doctor told them needlessly opening the door slightly for them to take a quick look inside, "There is one thing that I don't understand, the arrows that we removed from his body. They were in far too deep for someone to have shot at him with that type of force, the only thing that could have done this was some type of machine, but surely someone would have seen something." The doctor seemed to be talking to himself more now than any of them as he had a far off look in his eyes, hearing him talk both Buffy and Faith turned to each other with a knowing look in their eyes, both of them knew just who or what had the strength to do something like this. "Since you're not family, I can only let one of you in to see him tonight. If you come back tomorrow then I can let you all see him, but I honestly think that if he wakes up tomorrow he should be able to leave." The doctor informed them before walking off to do his rounds on other patients, both Joyce and Faith turned to look at Buffy who smiling at her and walking further down the hall to let her go inside.

Pushing her fear of hospital further out of her mind Buffy slowly walked into Xander's room keeping her head low, she didn't know what she was going to expect when she saw him as thus was trying to put it off for as long as possible even if she were only feet away. Stopping when she got to the side of his bed she finally looked up and could feel herself smiling despite the situation, she had expected to see a collection of different machines keeping him alive but all that was there as a monitor that displayed his heart rate and blood pressure. Her eyes now trailed over her potential boyfriend taking in everything as he lay in the bed, with the blanket stopping at his waist Buffy's hormones were given a lot of flesh to fill her mind with fantasies of, his deep breathes and the steady beeping of the single machine was enough to convince her that he was ok just needing time to heal up. Her gaze stopped it's appreciative travel up his body when she saw the two sets of stitches that were on his left pectoral, while nothing major they were the only thing that took her from her seventeen year old fantasies, looking back at the door Buffy knelt on the bed slightly and placed her head on the other side of Xander's chest looking up at his face.

"You've got to wake up soon Xan. You can't do something like this to me, since we made up after the warehouse you've been one thing that's been constant for me and I can't lose you now. After everything that's happened between us the past week do you really think you can just leave without me being able to get one kiss off you," unknown to the slayer her hand had been running up and down Xander's chest skimming over the wounds that would no doubt become scars in time. "You have to wake up because I need to tell you why I was at your house tonight."

After ten minutes of waiting for Buffy to leave Xander's room Joyce walked over to tell her daughter that they needed to go, she had school the next day and while she wasn't sure if Faith actually attended or just left with Buffy she wasn't going to let her daughter miss the day. That had been her plan but it flew out the window as she stood in the doorway looking in, there was nothing that could stop the smile that seemed to scream 'Awww' folding her arms over her chest Joyce smiled at Faith and nodded for her to come and have a look at what was happening in the room. Not knowing what had Joyce smiling the way she was Faith slowly walked over and stepped in front of Buffy's mum as she looked into the room, like Joyce she could feel the smile forming on her own face. Having climbed fully onto the bed and one arm wrapped around his waist Buffy had fallen asleep with her head on the side of Xander's chest that was uninjured. Seeing how peaceful her daughter looked Joyce had no intention of waking her and merely walked into the room and covered Buffy in a spare quilt that had been lain out on a chair in case they needed to keep Xander warm in the night, the sight as was rewarded with was Buffy snuggling further into Xander's body as a slight purring sound came from her daughter.

* * *

The sun was the cause of Buffy waking up the next morning, the slayer in her told her that she wasn't anywhere familiar and she was more than ready to jump out of bed expecting an attack. A slight shifting next to her forced her to see just who she had been sharing a bed with; her ire vanished when she saw the sleeping form of Xander Harris laying on his back with her arm around his waist, at first she couldn't recall why the two of them were in a hospital bed but the blue stitches that stood out on his chest brought her memory back of the night before. The verbal attack she faced from Angel, Xander's temper boiling not letting her tell him that she wanted to be with him, fleeing his house after he snapped at her and then the phone call. She hadn't had some many different emotions running through her body after finding out Xander was in the hospital, fear that he wasn't going to make it, anger at the receptionist for not letting her through straight away, relief when the doctor said he was going to be ok, rage when she and Faith found out that it had to have been vampires and then a sense of peace when she was laying with her head on his chest.

Realising just where she saw Buffy crept out of the bed and carefully placed the quilt that had been over her on Xander's body, she couldn't believe that she mum and Faith had left her there the night. Her mum knew of her fear of hospitals not to mention the trouble she could have gotten in if anyone had walked the room and looked in, taking one last look at Xander on the bed Buffy couldn't help herself and lent over his body before planting a light kiss on his mouth, before stepping back with a smile on her face. She knew now that there would be no rejection from him if she wanted to kiss him while he was awake but she was feeling slightly nervous and giddy at the same time, apart from her ill fated kiss with him that she was still certain he had rejected her this was the first time she had kissed him.

Knowing that she wasn't meant to be there Buffy used as much as her slayer abilities as she could to dodge the employees that were doing their morning rounds, if anyone saw her they would have thought she was a mental patient the way she was running into rooms and then back out when she saw sure no one was around. When she finally got nearer the exit of the hospital the only other person that seemed to be anywhere was the receptionist from the night before, knowing how this would seem Buffy used everything she had been trained in stealth and resourcefulness. The second the receptionist wasn't looking up she flat out sprinted through the waiting room and out the door.

Stopping outside the hospital and looking back to make sure that the receptionist hadn't seen her Buffy started a light jog needing to get back home so she would be able to have a shower and a change of clothes for the day, no matter how much she enjoyed sleeping next to Xander even if it were in a hospital bed she doubted anyone would want to be around her if she smelt like sweat and the hospital.

Faith was once again standing around the Summers' household not knowing what she should do with herself when the front door opened, turning around this time with a smile on her face as she watched Buffy enter the house looking around to see if her mum was ready to jump out at her.

"Enjoy sleeping next to stud last night?" Faith asked with a smile on her face that forced Buffy to blush red, "Hell B, the guy's been put in hospital and there you are ready to mount him. Gotta say you're becoming a bad influence on me." Buffy was ready to throw a reply back at the brunette when Joyce walked down the stairs putting on the angriest face she could as she stopped in front of her daughter,

"Buffy you know when it's a school night I want you to tell me when you're not going to be coming home, instead of what you thinks the right thing to do; which is walk into the house less then forty minutes before schools starts." Looking very much the kicked dog Buffy didn't see the smile shared between her mum and Faith as her eyes hit the floor trying to come up with an excuse for what she had done the night before, by the time she looked back up neither of them were smiling, well Faith was but Joyce was once again staring at her like she had committed a heinous crime.

"Well you see...It was like this... I just wanted to make sure that..." After starting three excuses and not being to finish a single one of them a thought popped into Buffy's head and with her jaw hanging open she stared at her mum. "You left me there." She said indignantly, the laughter that came from the two other females wasn't enough to remove the sulky look that had formed on the blondes face as she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

"Get a shower and get dressed, you'll be late for school." Joyce said still laughing as she walked off, Faith on the other hand just stood there as she watched Buffy start walking to the stairs not knowing how the react to the fact her mum had baited her. This had been one of the best things she had been a part of since arriving at Sunnydale, no matter how much they might disagree she didn't think watching Buffy and Xander nearly eat each other twice was all that fun.

"I can't believe you two left me there. Anything could have happened; a doctor could have walked in..." Buffy ranted during her and Faith's walk to Sunnydale high,

"Xan could have woken up." Faith added helpfully with a smile on her face, she was pretty sure that Buffy wasn't going to be fully there just yet still getting over the shock that her mum and tricked her and wasn't angry she had slept in the hospital.

"Xan could have woken up and found me in bed with him, who knows what he would have done then." The brunette slayer watched as Buffy pace slowed right down and she spun around to see what was keeping Buffy from walking at a fast speed, the slightly glazed over look in her eyes told the story. "Xan...bed." she said dreamily before hearing the cackling laughter of Faith which brought her abruptly from her thoughts, blushing bright red Buffy quickly sped back up and walked past Faith who looked like she would have a fit if she continued to laugh the way she currently was.

Both slayers found themselves on the receiving end of twin glares from Giles and Wesley the second they arrived in the library, it had been surprising to see Willow already there when they opened the doors but at the same time without Xander being around and him and Willow being on the outs with each other she really had no one except for Buffy and Faith to be around.

"I hope that the two of you enjoyed your bonding session last night," Wesley said once again trying to push his nonexistent authority on the pair, "But when either myself or Mr Giles make a training session for that night, or day then the two of you without fail will attend. Rest assured the council will hear about this and they will not be happy with the two of you, it's apparent that neith..."

"Xander was taken into hospital." Buffy said cutting off Wesley having grown tired of anything he was saying to her, the silence that had filled the library with that one statement was only destroyed by the sound of the doors swinging open and someone's feet hitting the marble floor. The five turned to see just who had walked into the library having thought it was a haven just for them, but any bad thoughts of being interrupted her stopped when they saw it was Jenny who had arrived. "The hospital phoned my house last night to tell us," there was no mistaking the angry gasp coming from Willow hearing that it had been Buffy's house and not her own that had received the phone call, "He was shot with two arrows, they went through his back and nearly came right out of his chest."

* * *

Voices rang around the hospital during the afternoon rounds, most patients were either in surgery or had been released so none of the attending doctors had much to do that day, it was the voices had woke Xander up from his light sleep; silver eyes hitting the white ceiling above his bed. Laying there he didn't move for a few seconds trying to remember what had happened for him to wake up in hospital, flashes came back to him. Snapping at Buffy in his house, Oz talking to him about his band playing at the Bronze and giving him two tickets for it, and then Angel. His whole body tensed up at the thoughts of the vampire, the back and forth testosterone throwing before he was shot from behind, almost like it had a mind of its own his hand trailed the skin were the arrows had come out his chest feeling the stitches and tightened skin there. It looked like he owed the vampire one.

Throwing the two quilt covers off of his body Xander climbed out of the bed only to be stopped by the sensation of something on his hand, looking down at the white piece of plastic and metal that was connected to his finger and then the machine that allowed doctors to make sure he was ok he pulled it off of him letting it fall to the floor. He was in no mood to be there now that he had woken up, his first stop as the chair that had the clothes he was wearing the night before folded up in a neat pile with his boots under them, with a snort he saw that both his top and jacket had holes in them from where he had been hit by the arrows. It was during him getting dressed that a doctor walked into the room to check up on him, having told Buffy, Joyce and Faith the night before that he believed Xander would be awake today he hadn't actually thought it was the truth but wanted to give them something to have.

"Xander?" the doctor asked putting the chart he had in his hand on the small table in the room, the teenager turned and looked the doctor up and down before going back to tying his boots and picking his jacket up in one hand. "I have to admit I'm shocked to see you awake, getting shot with two arrows is something that would kill a number of people and the very least leave them in hospital for at least a few days and here you are up and getting dressed." Xander was trying his best to block out anything the doctor was saying to him, only two things were going through his head at the minute; the first had Buffy had spent the night in the bed with him and the second was revenge.

Walking past the doctor that still seemed in awe that he was up and about Xander turned in the direction that he had heard the voices coming from and starting walking hoping that it would led him to the exit, his mind was running different scenarios with every step he took. It all came back to one point Angel had set him up and someone else had been working with the vampire to try and take him out, but the question was who? Within the undead population of Sunnydale the vampire had to have been even more hated then Xander was quickly finding himself, and unless for some reason Buffy or Faith had been the ones to fire the arrow which he now doubted it had to have been something supernatural. His thoughts had carried him past the reception desk were the woman there had to do a double take watching him walk past seemingly like he hadn't been laying on the desk the night before bleeding and possibly on the verge of death, looking back in the direction he had come from she saw the doctor that had seen to the trio of women asking about him the night before standing there looking as dazed as she was.

Much like Buffy had only hours before Xander stopped outside the hospital but only to stare down the person that looked like drug addict who was watching him, with a snarl and a growl he walked past him making sure to bang into the other male on the way. He had only taken a few steps when the sun was impeding his vision; he had no reason to have his sunglasses when he left his house last night so he didn't have them now. Trying to walk in the shade as much as possible was a hard thing to do with the twelve o'clock sun beaming down on everyone; the effect on his eyes was forcing everything to have an aluminous white background to it forcing him to walk at a slower pace than he was used to.

His destination however was imprinted in his mind, sun or no sun he knew exactly where he was going and how to get there. He always thought it was funny the things that stuck in your mind but right now the fact that he remembered an address Giles had given him a year ago was something that he was happy about. Turning into what Cordelia would call the bad part of town Xander was able to pick his head up without the worry that the sun would blind him, a clear sign that this part of Sunnydale had been built first was the closeness of the buildings blocking out a good portion of the sun and also not surprising that the demons and vampires would want to live here.

Stopping outside a rundown apartment block Xander's blood boiled with thoughts of what he'd do to the vampire once he got hold of him, tearing his arms and legs off would be fun and a painful way to tell the vampire not to cross him again; removing what passed as a penis could be just as fun but he decided to stick with the basics, tossing him out of the window and into direct sunlight.

Arriving outside the apartment that he knew housed the vampire Xander decided to forego politeness and kicked the door down letting his anger and rage flow freely through his body, with the patience of a raging bull he stormed inside the room expecting to find the vampire trying to stay somewhere that wouldn't allow the sun to touch him. The fact that he wasn't sitting in what would have been the living room drove Xander's already volatile temper past its breaking point, tables and chairs that were in his path were either smashed or tossed across the room as he stormed his way over to the side of the apartment that held the bed, picking up a wooden chair and throwing it through the Japanese style screen door that would allow someone privacy to get changed revealed that the vampire wasn't in his apartment at all. Unable to stop himself from baring his teeth in rage he picked up the chair that he had just thrown and with a grunt of anger launched it through one on the windows on the far wall.

* * *

The second that the final bell had rang at Sunnydale high Buffy had ran out of the school not stopping once even when she heard either Willow or Faith yelling at her to slow down, the words of the doctor from last night kept ringing in her ears all day. His belief that Xander would be awake and ready to leave the hospital had nearly forced the slayer to leave school earlier but the glares from Willow anytime she had wanted to were enough to make her stay the day, she and both had sensed another change in the red heads attitude towards Buffy after finding out that it was her house and not Willow's that had been put down as Xander's emergency contact. She didn't see how that was her fault when she hadn't told Xander to change it, the fact that it had been done not long after knowing the slayer said a lot about just how much confidence he had in her being there if anything did happen to him.

In a manner opposite that of last night Buffy calmly walked over to the reception desk trying to slow her breathing down just enough for it to be back to normal, she didn't want to come off of someone that ran all the to the hospital just to check on someone even if she just had.

"I'm here to see Xander Harris." Buffy said noticing the guards that were standing either side of the hall that would take her to his room, like the night before however the receptionist seemed to be in the same mood about talking to a teenager that seemed overly hyped up. Banging on the desk lightly to get her attention Buffy could only smile innocently when the receptionist looked up at her, "Hi, I'm here to see Xander Harris." She repeated keeping the smile on her face hoping that the guards wouldn't come over to see if anything was wrong, once again the receptionist didn't answer but this time started typing away at her computer for a few seconds.

"It says here that Harris walked out of the hospital a few hours ago," Buffy stared at the woman in shock at what she was hearing, "The doctor said he went in to check and him, and found Harris getting dressed before he left. Didn't even fill out a discharge form." Looking up the receptionist saw a stunned look on Buffy's face before the blonde turned and ran out of the hospital with the same enthusiasm that she had arrived with, watching the blonde run through the doors the receptionist could only shake her head before going t back to the computer to do more work.

Standing outside the hospital for the second time in less than ten hours Buffy couldn't help but think if it weren't for her slayer stamina then there would be no way she'd be able to run this far or this often considering that she didn't appear to have much muscle mass on her. Turning and heading in the direction that would led her to Xander's house and she hoped Xander himself she didn't know if she was going to kick his ass when she found him, the worry she had felt last night at hearing he was in hospital and now to find out he had just walked out. Who just left the hospital after being shot twice with arrows?

It was during this time that she was happy Xander lived closer to the centre of Sunnydale compared to herself, but this also showed the different state of the houses that were around this area. Standing outside his door for the second time in two days and possibly wanting the same result she had wanted the day prior Buffy knocked gently on the door, at first she didn't know if anyone was in fact inside the home so she raised her hand to knock once again but this time louder. She froze in mid knock when the door was opened and her hand was only centimetres away from Xander's chest who stared down at her.

"Hey," she said shyly looking up at him, Xander for his part didn't reply as he merely turned around and walked back into the house leaving the door open, taking solace in the fact that he hadn't shut the door in her face Buffy followed him inside before closing the door behind her quietly; she hadn't come here to fight with him but also knew that both of them had short tempers when they were pushed too far. "I was worried about you after you went into hospital last night," she said not knowing how to start the conversation she wanted to have with him, the dimmed lights told her that either his parents weren't home yet or they had already gone to bed drunk. "When my mum told me what had happened to you I nearly broke down at my house," the neutral face that met her told Buffy that Xander didn't know where she was going if this line of conversation. "Ok look, I came here because we need to talk."

"I think we said everything that we needed to last night." Xander replied his voice echoing off the walls around them, this statement hung in the air for a few seconds as both of them stared at each other waiting for one of them to make the next move. In the end it was Xander who started walking towards her obviously annoyed with the fact that she hadn't said anything or move, his path moved away from the slayer with the steps he took until he was walking more towards the door. Buffy didn't know what else she could do, here she was once again trying to explain herself to Xander and for the second time it seemed that he wasn't going to listen to her, when his body was level with her own she reached out to grab hold of his arm and spin him back to her; she didn't give him any time to say anything to her quickly wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself up to kiss him.

When the contact was first made she felt Xander tense up and was once again worried that he was going to reject her, having gotten through it the first time by convincing herself that it was the heat of the moment Buffy didn't know how she'd be able to look at him if he rejected her again. She as happily surprised however when she felt him relax as his arms went around her waist, there was nothing that would have been able to stop the sigh that came from her mouth when she felt Xander start to respond to her kiss as the two of them started walking backwards further into the room before dropping on the couch there.


	11. Lust and Revenge

There was nothing that could stop the grin that was on Faith's face the next day as she made her way through the corridors of Sunnydale High, she had to endure Joyce's worrying the night before when Buffy didn't return home after school. It had only had been her quick saying Buffy had gone to Willow's for the night and the fact that Buffy had phoned up earlier on that had stopped Joyce from phoning all of Sunnydale's police, it was with the thought of what she had done to keep Buffy out of trouble the night before that she prayed her sister slayer had something good to tell her.

Pushing past people on her way to the library it seemed odd to her that in her last school she had spent as much time as possible avoiding it and now she was there more than any other place, stepping inside she saw that only Jenny was there; stopping in confusion not having seen the teacher around that much Faith started to walk towards the centre table at a slower pace then she had first came into the school with. Deliberate movements saw her position herself in a way that gave her a view on the doors that would signal either Buffy or Xander's arrival to the library while the latter was extremely unlikely as well as letting her keep an eye on Jenny.

"So you're the second slayer." Jenny said looking at Faith with a raised eyebrow, she had heard about another slayer being sent to Sunnydale from Giles but had been unable to see her for herself; looking at the brunette she could tell that she was slightly taller than Buffy but she just didn't seem to have the slayer vibe that the blonde gave out or the sense that they were someone dangerous like Xander had since Halloween. "I heard that they sent a watcher all the way from England for you." She added after silence filled the room, not being impressed at first impression was one thing but she didn't want to make an enemy out of the slayer while it was only the two of them in the room, and she was also willing to believe being a slayer that the brunette in front of her would be an irreplaceable ally for them.

"They should have let me keep Jeeves and gave B the pencil pusher." Came the reply after a few seconds, neither women could stop the small grin that came to their faces both having found that Wesley was a shoe in for the 'most annoying person' award after only knowing him for a short amount of time. If either of them were going to continue the conversation they wouldn't know as the doors to the library came swinging open and an irritated Giles came storming in red faced followed by Buffy and then Willow, both of them looked at each other with raised eyebrows before turning to the trio that had just arrived, Buffy was trying her best to look innocent while Willow didn't seem to know what was going on anymore than Faith or Joyce while Giles paced the width of the room turning bright red.

"Buffy as your watcher I would like to know why you thought doing that on school grounds in full view of other people is acceptable." Giles said turning to look at Buffy who tried firing off the puppy dog eyes at him but quickly saw that it wasn't going to work took a step backwards as Willow made her way around to sit next to Joyce at one side of the table ignoring the looks the two gave her before turning to look back at what was unfolding in front of them. "You had to have known that other people would have found it offensive that you were doing it were they could see, what were you thinking when you were... were..." the watcher seemed to be at a loss for words at the thought of what his slayer had been doing which had set this whole thing off.

"You can say it Giles. I was kissing my boyfriend," Buffy offered helpfully but the twinkle in her eye told anyone that was looking she wasn't trying to help but more likely see what type of reaction she could get off of her watcher. The word boyfriend had grabbed the attention of the other three females in the room and now they all appeared like they were watching a soap opera on t.v the way that their eyes grew in size and stayed glued on the two talking.

"Kissing? Is that what you call it? Because it seemed to me that you were attempting to eat his face. And I've never known hands to be on that part of someone's body while 'kissing'." Giles retorted making his slayer blush and her eyes quickly hit the floor; the grin that had been on Faith's face when she first arrived at school that day was quickly reforming as she started to put the pieces together. She doubted that the others knew she had gone looking for Xander the day prior and hadn't come home so it was no surprise that Giles had been shocked and Joyce and Willow had no idea what was going on. "And boyfriend? The last time I checked he was Xander, someone that not so long ago we didn't know we could trust." The sound of the name sent Faith into bark's of laughter as well as Joyce whereas Willow looked like she had just been forced to swallow a lemon hearing that not only had Buffy been kissing Xander but he was her boyfriend. The reactions from the trio were ignored at Buffy now stared at Giles defiantly with a look that had sent vampires and demons running for the hills with the hope that she wouldn't kill them, if the watcher was scared then he was hiding it well meeting the glare head on with his own. "Buffy I understand that you need to have your own life, but I would also think that you would tell me when something like this happens." Slightly worried that he'd start a sex talk next Buffy spun on her heel and left the library with a still laughing Faith and stunned Willow following her.

"Was that really necessary?" Jenny asked looking at Giles, who was still stood in the centre of the room having been staring at the door the trio had gone through. "Doing that while other people were in the room, embarrassing her?" she added when all she was given was a confused look.

"B I know I told you that you had to take X for yourself if you wanted him. But seriously, is it too much to pick up the phone and let me know what was going on last night?" Faith asked walking on one side of Buffy as Willow took up the other but was staring at the floor, with a wicked grin on her face Faith turned to look at the smaller slayer. "Or was last night to tiring for you?" she asked grinning wider at the shocked look on Willow's face as the red head turned to look at Buffy as well, to a normal person they wouldn't have been able to see the brief look of jealousy that flew through her eyes.

"What? No! No. We didn't sleep together." Buffy said looking at Faith for a second before turning her gaze to in front of her, the passion that Buffy used to deny sleeping with Xander would have made Faith question if the two were even together like the blonde slayer had and their kissing earlier wasn't just because of the tension between the two but the look in her eyes was enough for her to know that Buffy at least felt something for the silver eyed male. That being said she was ready to make a joke about Buffy not wanting to sleep with Xander to see if she could push her enough to lose control the next time she saw him, much like she had been prodding her since arriving in Sunnydale that had been until she too turned back the way they were going. Standing in front of a bored looking Xander was Cordelia, the queen of the school seemed oblivious to the way she was being looked at by the male she was flirting with and didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon. While Xander wasn't talking back to her instead just letting her talk to her hearts content that didn't stop the fake flirtatious laugh like he had said something funny, or the way she would run her hand across his shoulder and down. Faith was ready to tell Buffy that she should make her move now, in front of more students to show once and for all that Xander was taken, but when she turned to say something the blonde was gone.

Readjusting the way he was standing for the third time since Cordelia had nearly attacked him in the hallway Xander was preparing to throw her out of his way and continue to where he had been going, a slight grin formed on his face when he thought back to the look on Buffy's face when Giles had seen them kissing not long ago; unfortunately for him Cordelia took this as sign that he was enjoying the line of conversation that she was going down and continued. Suddenly Xander had both of his forearms grabbed and he was spun a 180 degrees away from Cordelia before a set of lips which were quickly coming familiar were on his own, once again letting his hands fall to the blonde slayer's hips he was surprised when he found her legs wrapped around his waist pulling him closer to her and the lockers that she was leaning on when she and her need for affection off of him. Only standing inches away from the pair Cordelia looked on in disgust that they didn't have the decency to at least devour each other somewhere private, allowing her eyes to travel down Xander's body she really couldn't blame Buffy for wanting to show off what she now apparently had. Standing in the spot they had been when Buffy left them Faith and Willow could only stare wide eyed and in one case mouth open at what they were witnessing. After a minute or two, Buffy finally detached herself from Xander before taking his hand and walking away down the corridor if a self satisfied smile on her face.

"That was hot." Faith muttered taking a quick glance at Willow before walking off after the pair, when she was going to tell Buffy that she had to do something when they spotted Cordelia THAT hadn't been what she was thinking off; but it did look more fun than her idea of threatening the queen of the school.

Faith had quickly dropped herself in the seat next to Buffy in the science lab; Xander had taken the seat opposite the blonde slayer on the four seater table with his back to the front of the class and by extension the teacher. The last seat had been taken by a confused and once again jealous looking Willow who could only smile at Buffy snidely when she sat by Xander, the look from the red head was either ignored or just not seen as Faith seemed to be whispering into Buffy's ear as the smile that had been on the blondes face after she had been kissing Xander still hadn't moved. For his part Xander didn't seem to be showing any type of outward reaction that he was bothered by what just happened his facial expression hadn't changed and if there had been any other bodily reactions they were hidden by the black cargo pants that he was once again wearing.

"You were going to tell me that I had to do something, so I did." Buffy said quietly to Faith who had taunted Buffy for her way of removing Cordelia from Xander's side minutes before, "Anyway it was fun." She added as an afterthought before turning and grinning cheekily at her boyfriend who stared back at her the shadow of a smirk forming on the corner of his mouth. Looking like he was bored he slowly rested the side of his head in the palm on his hand in an attempt to shield one of his eyes from the light coming down on them, it didn't make sense at the start of the day to have the lights on in the school but it was something that they didn't seem like changing any time soon.

"Are you three patrolling tonight?" Willow asked as she took notes, Buffy looked at her best friend as she stopped taking her own notes while thinking over the question, the past two days both her and Faith had skipped patrol and while she knew she should do at least a small one there were so many more fun things that she wanted to do, she thought as her eyes drifted over to Xander who had ignored the question.

"I guess," she sighed getting Xander to look up from his drawing in the back of his science book and Faith to lift her head from her arms, "Giles seemed pretty annoyed when he found out we'd missed the last two days." She said this more to Faith than anyone else. With a small snort Xander turned back to what he had been doing not knowing that Willow was no trying to look over his shoulder to see just what held his interest, not knowing her friend to have any artistic talent before she was bemused to see the drawing of a wolf on the page, only it didn't look like a wolf. What would have been the fur was bunched together in much thicker strand and were all in triangle shapes of nearly the same size making it look more like armour than anything else, and then there was the eyes; only having a pencil to use Xander had shaded nearly all of the eye in darkly leaving part of the centre free to make it seem like there was a shine hitting it or a light of some sort.

"I have things to do." He replied knowing that at least Buffy was waiting to see if he was going to patrol with them, there was then the required silence were the trio at the table waited for him to tell them what those things were but he fell back into the quiet that had been trademark for him since having Riddick in his head. The three females shared a look with each other after Xander once again fell quiet before each going back to whatever it was they had been doing, after a few seconds of trying to take notes like she had been before Buffy's child like curiosity got the better of her, and while she'd try to find out what Xander was doing later on in the day she felt the need to distract him from what he was doing. Keeping her head down and pen lifted in hand to make it seem like she was reading over what she had wrote ready to correct any mistakes she slowly unfolded her legs and let them stretch out under the table, cursing her shortness once again she shuffled the chair closer to the table before a sense of gratification came over her.

Her heeled boot came into contact with something solid on the other side of the table and judging from the lack of reaction it had been the person she had wanted to get, allowing her foot to slowly push against the leg on the other side of the table she felt the heavy material on Xander's cargo pants shift as she pushed against it. Making sure that her foot was at the bottom of his leg she wrapped her own leg around his calf muscle and started running her leg up and down the back of his staring at him all the while to see if she could get a reaction out of him, after a couple of seconds of ignoring her Xander picked his head up and silver eyes hit green ones as Buffy smiled wickedly at him. His first thought had been to knock her foot and leg off of him but then decided to let Buffy have her fun for now, unlike the blonde slayer whose boot had somehow been removed with her other leg Xander made no effort to hide the fact that he was staring at her, his only reaction as the smirk that formed on his face when her foot started to rub against the inside of his thigh before resting in his crotch.

Unaware of what was going on next to her Willow was happily taking notes when her pen dropped from her hand and rolled off the edge of the table, knowing that this had probably gotten no one's attention and still not liking too many people pointing her out she quickly and quietly dropped off of her seat and bent down to get her pen back. To say she was shocked seeing Buffy's leg stretched out to hers and Xander's side of the table and just where her foot had decided to rest was an understatement as she came back from under the table bright red not looking at any of the three at the table, the jealousy that had been bubbling under the surface at the obvious fact Buffy and Xander were a couple came rushing forwards full force at the fact the blonde would seemingly rub it in her face in the manner she was, repositioning her chair to be facing the far window Willow waited a few seconds before letting loose with a full swing kick that hit Buffy's calf startling the slayer.

"Oww!" Buffy yelped in shock pulling her leg back quickly, the exclamation got Faith's attention as she quickly pulled her head back up and looked at Buffy in confusion as to why as acted like she was hurt, Xander raised his eyebrow in a silent question to what had happened while the blonde stared at Willow who refused to look back up after kicking Buffy under the table. "Something just hit my leg that was all." She offered as an answer to the other two people at the table before turning back to her work, not before giving Willow a small glare, Faith and Xander looked at each other not knowing what had just happened but neither going to ask, as it wasn't in their nature.

"So X, you've got things that are more important than patrolling with your favourite two girls tonight? Faith asked throwing one arm around Buffy after they came out of the science class, both her and Xander had a free period next and seemed to be walking Buffy to her next class having left Willow behind when Buffy hadn't waited for her when the bell rang. Xander merely looked at Faith in a way that told her there was no way the brunette slayer was going to get him to tell her what he was doing and where he was going that night, forcing her to put her hands up in defence. "Hey I'm just curious, the way you and B have been looking at each other today I thought you would have been looking for a bed so you could fill the world with little studs and little B's" Faith laughed as Buffy walked into her class not before giving her sister slayer the finger and blowing Xander a kiss. Falling into a silence due to them never having spent any time together without Buffy around Faith and Xander started wandering the halls aimlessly not knowing where to go with their free. "In here." Faith said pushing Xander through a set of doors after walking past them for the third time.

Turning to glare at her after stumbling slightly into the gym Xander took a step away from the brunette slayer as she paced a small distance in front of him. His caution was well placed when she launched herself at him with an attempted knee to his stomach, covering her knee with one of his much larger hands Xander looked at her in confusion before bringing his other hand up to parry a punch aimed for his jaw and retaliating with a backhander that slammed into Faith's face. The brunette slayer put her hand to her jaw in shock before smirking at Xander and running at him once again, for his part the Furyan teenager was stunned by what was happening and didn't have time to block the hook that slammed into his own jaw leading him to the second punch that sent him flying across the gym.

"What's wrong stud? B acts like you're something special." Faith taunted as Xander got back to his feet feeling the small trickle of blood that was running down his chin, with a snarl that would be a miss on a jungle cat Xander made short work of the distance separating him from the second slayer his eyes shining silver dangerously as Faith looked ready to drop into an defensive stance. Grinning to herself the slayer waited until Xander was close enough and then launched a forth punch at his jaw, like the previous two this one hit the mark also but what shocked her was the fact that Xander seemed to step into the punch letting it make full contact, the confusion made her mind go blank and she didn't click that Xander grabbed hold of her wrist and slammed his own fist into her jaw. Faith's body turned and tried to drop from the force of the punch but the grip on her wrist prevented that allowing Xander to use his strength to pull her back to face him before drilling his fist into her face again and again, it was only after the fourth punch did Faith seem to realise where she was but at that time she was hit with a back handed punch which made contact with her mouth, the force of which shook her body to the core; almost in slow motion Xander let go of her wrist and watched as her body came up off of the floor before dropping back into the ground like a bag of rocks three feet away.

"Never try this again Faith." Xander told her, his voice holding a gravel tone to it, "You'll find I'm more than ready to take a slayer out." Without helping her up or checking to make sure she was ok Xander turned and left the gym only now wiping the blood that was still flowing from the small cut at the corner of her mouth. Pushing herself up into a half seated position Faith could only stare at the now swinging door, just a portion of what Angel had been so scared of had been shown to her, shaking her head slightly she couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her mouth now she had more reason to wish he had wanted her and not Buffy.

* * *

Giles, Wesley, Buffy and Faith where all standing in the library looking at each other like there was going to be a gun fight, which wouldn't be all that impossible after Faith's watcher had tried to tell them that if he or Giles thought either slayer was in a relationship that would hinder their development as slayers then it was in their power to order them to end it immediately.

"I don't think either you or Faith understand." Wesley said to Buffy after the blonde slayer had used some colourful words to tell one of the watchers what would happen if either of them thought they could order her to break up with Xander. "The watchers council are in charge of the slayer and thus they have the power to tell the slayer what to do." He said like he were talking to children with his smug attitude.

"No you don't understand." Buffy replied glaring down at him which was a hard thing to do due to her size, "No one. Not you, not Giles, not my mother and not some council on the other side of the world is going to be able to tell me if I have to break up with my boyfriend." She added glaring at both watchers this time to make it clear that she wasn't just talking to Wesley. It was with that leaving statement that the two slayers left the library with glares that would melt steel.

* * *

Draped in his black cloak Xander stood outside the small wooden building like he had down five times already that night, this had been what he was talking about when he had said that he had other things to do that night instead of patrolling with Buffy and Faith. Torture was what he had in mind, plain and simple torture and that was the reason that they hadn't told either slayer, he knew that both of them would be against his plan and try to stop him from following through, and there was no way that he could allow that to happen. There was nothing that would stop him from taking his revenge. With that thought in mind Xander reposition the bundle that was covered in a dust sheet in his arms enabling him to open the door and walk into the pitch black on the room, without a backward look he kicked the door shut behind him sure of the fact that there was no one following him. The rundown building he had come to was on the outskirts on Sunnydale near the woods, and it was with that knowledge that no one or no thing came out here he picked it.

Walking further inside the dimly lit room due to the candles he had brought to give him some level of light Xander dropped the dust sheet on the table which made a mix of the clang of metal and dull thud of wood dropping. His silver eyes were emotionless as in the candle light as he dragged the sheet off of the table and onto the floor revealing the vast number of wooden crosses of different sizes that littered the table as well as the large steel chain, tossing the chain to the floor and smirking slightly at the noise it made Xander looked to the far corner of the room, he had no idea what the building had been used for but there was a working pulley in it that allowed things to be lifted to the ceiling and back down to the floor. Bending down next to the table he lifted a ball pin hammer along with a sack of nails before climbing onto the table and picking one of the crosses up, being able to reach the ceiling of the room while on his tip toes and standing on the table Xander nailed the first cross to the ceiling before stepping back and looking at his work.

Knowing what he'd just done had made it so his revenge had taken one step further to being a reality Xander stepped off of the table and looked up at the now covered ceiling, hatred and maliciousness shining in his eyes as he took it all in a smirk forming on his face. If there was one thing he had learned off of all this it was the fact that everything came full circle. The need for revenge had been flowing through his body for most of the day, the only time when it seemed his mind was clear was when Buffy was around him, or sticking her tongue down his throat; he had thought that he would have been ok to just wait and allow nature to take its course but after his impromptu fight with Faith he left the burning desire come back stronger than ever and this time he didn't try and push it away. Instead he pulled his want for revenge closer to him and allowed his mind to slip into a blood lust like state that it had been in since he left school, he guessed that he was lucky he didn't run into anyone he disliked while he was looking for somewhere to take his revenge because he doubted that anything good would have come from it.

With only two things left to do Xander walked over to the spot where he had carelessly tossed the thick chain and picked it back up, looking like it had once been used with a padlock only twice as long he wrapped it around his fist before looking down at it in a trance before turning back to look at the ceiling. Xander shook his head as he saw the lights from the candles burning lower and lower, the flames seemed to bring him out of the red mist like mind set he was in but only for a few seconds as he turned and started walking towards the door way, the chain still wrapped tightly around his fist.


	12. Furyan Versus Angelus

A/n: I currently have a poll on my profile of the stories that are either upcoming or currently being re-written. Go there and vote for whatever story you'd want to see next from the list. The poll will be up for the next two/three weeks

Buffy, Faith and Willow were all sitting on the blonde's slayer's bed, the pair having decided to prove just who was in control of the patrolling situation and took the night off to spite both watchers'. There was also the fact that without Xander going to have been there Buffy had thought the night would have been a lot less fun and was no longer in the mood to do anything.

"So, no news on what X thought was more important?" Faith asked looking at Buffy, the brunette had kept the fight she had with Xander to herself and it looked like the Furyan powered male had done the same, Buffy merely shook her head in the negative while flicking through the channels on her t.v. "How is he after those two holes in his chest?" she asked not too sure if the pair had spoken about what happened to him, this time however Buffy turned to look at Faith with confusion on her face, something that wasn't lost on either female that was watching her every move.

"We haven't talked about what happened to him." she replied sounding a little put out about that fact, looking at her two friends she tried to give them a small smile. "Sure we've only been together less than a day, but it just seems like he's holding something in. Something big." Faith and Willow had edged closer to Buffy when she was giving her answer, neither of them really sure of what to say. Turning to give the mousey red head a brief look Faith wasn't sure why she was even there, since she had come to Sunnydale it didn't seem like Buffy or Willow were all that close, there was a lot of tension between them and it all seemed to steam from Xander. "I get that he's got to have thing he doesn't tell me, but I'm not sure if he even wants to talk about it."

All three stopped talking as they thought about Buffy had told them, Willow was the one that knew the least about anything happening to Xander and her own jealousy was starting to build back up, sure she was attracted to Oz but she had been in love with Xander for years; and lately it seemed that everything that could go wrong for her was. Halloween when he was taken over by his costume, in her amnesia like state Buffy had rushed to Xander for protection and she really couldn't blame her with how intimidating he had looked. But when the spell had been removed she saw that Buffy was reluctant to even take her hands off of Xander before he left. Finding out that Xander hadn't changed back to the way he was, the fight between him, Angel and Buffy. Faith arriving, and now Buffy and Xander dating.

"Maybe he just needs time to recover B." Faith offered after a few minutes of silence, "I mean with everything that's happened in a sort amount of time, the guy's mind has got to be messed up. With that thing being in his head and your attempt at taking it out; then getting attacked like he was. Give him time." Buffy was about to say that he shouldn't need time to tell her but stopped herself, but thinking about what Faith had just said to her a lot of it made sense. Who was to know just how Xander was coping with everything that had happened, for the most of it he had been alone having isolated himself from the group gradually and then the sneak attack that failed; Buffy's sudden interest in him and then being put in the hospital no wonder he wasn't too big on being overly trusting with her.

Faith sudden perceptiveness shocked Buffy she hadn't thought that her sister slayer would have put so much thought into what would be going through Xander's head, the thing that hit her worse however was the fact that until Faith herself had brought it up she hadn't thought about what was going through his head and she was the one dating him. She knew that she wasn't going to beat herself up over something that in reality she couldn't be blamed for all that much, with everything that had been happening she guessed that Xander would have mentioned the attack on him, himself if he wanted to talk about it with anyone and the fact that he had stayed silent presumably meant he just wanted to put it behind himself and move on with it. However she was now finding herself in two minds, how much of her really thought Xander would bring it up on his own and how much thought he should have to alleviate some of her guilt that was bubbling.

"Is Xander coming here tonight?" asked Willow finally putting herself into the conversation, Faith who had been watching the t.v while she gave her last bout of advice to Buffy now turned to look at the other slayer with a sigh; if she had known that this would turn into a night where they would just talk about Xander she would have bugged the male in question to allow her to do whatever it was he had thought more important or dragged him here so at least there would be silence as he and Buffy ate each other's faces in her room.

"I don't know," Buffy replied looking at Willow, "After he said that he wasn't going to be on patrol with us tonight we didn't really talk that much the rest of the day. That was before me and Faith thought we'd skip out as well, I mean just how much trouble can the hell mouth get into in one night; Giles hasn't heard of anything big and evil that's approaching so I figured. Meh." Buffy finished with a devious smile on her face which was now mirrored on Faith's as she listened to the excuse used to stay in tonight.

Flicking the hood of his cloak over his head Xander started his journey back into the centre of Sunnydale, with each step he was taking he found that his blood boiled more and more; he didn't know if it was because of anger, nerves or the sheer excitement of fighting something but in all honesty he didn't care. One thing would be certain after tonight however and that was not to cross him. His thoughts briefly went to Buffy as he wondered if she would be out tonight, she wouldn't be able to stop him but he wouldn't deny things would go a whole lot smoother in the blonde was nowhere near him and what would happen.

Walking through the ever tall buildings that marked Sunnydale centre, he came to the conclusion that he had one small problem with trying to find his prey. How did you find a hair gel obsessing, brooding waste that called itself a vampire? Looking down at the chain wrapped securely around his right fist and travelling up part of his forearm Xander continued walking knowing full well however that he couldn't just start smashing into everything dirty building that looked like it might house a vampire, and he wasn't going to start asking people or things that would tell him just so he wouldn't hurt them. Perhaps luckily for his patience and anyone that might have looked at him the wrong way the answer came to Xander in the form of the loud beats penetrating the air from the Bronze.

Stepping inside the nightclub after glaring at the bouncer until he moved out of his way Xander lowered the hood on his robe but kept it wrapped over him, unless he had to he saw no reason to take it off and reveal his weapon to anyone there. Quickly and efficiently his silver eyes scanned the dancing crowds and found no trace of Buffy, Faith or Willow; taking that as a slightly plus for him, he made his way through the crowds of teenagers dancing and grinding up against each other while making sure none of them tried it with him. Another time and another day he might have been there for the same reason as everyone else but right now he was all business, with most of the people there going to Sunnydale high and by extension knowing the new him they moved out of his way allowing him onto the second tier platform.

Walking around Xander knew that this was only a gut feeling that brought him here, but after living on a hell mouth and finding out what went bump in the night over a year ago who was he to ignore his gut feeling? And it seemed that his gut was right, standing next to the bars that stopped people from walking over the edge was over-bite himself looking down at the ground floor; Xander knew then the chances are Angel saw him come in and walk p the stairs of the platform, he was just shocked that the vampire had waited for him like they were friends or something.

"Xander," Angelus turned around with a smile on his face greeting him like they talked all the time, he was greeted however with the silver gaze that seemed like it could tear your soul apart; the vampire might have shivered from the hatred and undercurrent of immorality that was there if he were human. "I haven't seen you for a while." He added with the grin getting bigger on his face all the time, ever since Halloween he knew that Xander had become hard to predict and could be a loose cannon so he wasn't sure if the others were with him; that meant he had to avoid taunting the boy about the other night, something he knew would be hard.

"Really?" Xander asked in a gravelly voice which sounded like it hadn't been used much, "Because you were there when I was shot with two arrows. You set it up." He concluded taking a step towards Angelus who mimicked the movements his face now portraying an innocent look which gave him the reputation for having the face of an Angel. It was almost as much a clear sign to Xander that something wasn't right as being shot twice, the vampire he knew could never have that much emotion on his face over anything.

"You're accusing me of having anything to do with you ending up in hospital."Angelus replied managing to sound genuinely hurt. "I don't know how you could say that, I was at home all night." Becoming more and more irritated Xander turned away from the vampire trying to calm himself down, after all the part of his mind that was still controlled by rational thought knew it would be dangerous to have a fight here with so many people around them. "Has Buffy done that thing with her tongue for you yet?" he asked with a grin that looked ready to split his face in half.

It was safe to say that due to his gloating Angelus never saw the chain covered fist flying at him, but he did feel it. Due to the suddenness of the attack and the unimaginable strength increase that Xander had been given the vampire was launched over the bars of the platform and slammed straight into the middle of the pool table below eliciting screams of fear and panic from the people on the ground floor. Walking over to the edge and looking over Xander put on hand on the metal bar before throwing his own body off of the platform and onto the pool table where a still dazed Angelus looked at him, shrugging his cloak off and allowing the chain to fall off of his hand also collecting on top the fabric Xander smirked at Angelus.

Walking towards his rival he picked him up by the collar of his leather jacket before setting him down on his feet, with a quickness that would have made Buffy proud Xander hit Angelus in the chest with the bottom of his palm and watched as the vampire for the second time in as many strikes was sent flying away from him. It was only now that people either started running for the doors or gathered around the two obviously drugged up males to see just how this fight was going to end. However they quickly followed their smarter companions in fleeing when they saw the demonic face of the downed male.

"Do you really think you can beat me?" Angelus asked pulling himself back to his feet, he had to admit the boy had a punch on him; feeling his jaw he was happy that it wasn't broken, it would be hard to drain Xander if it was. With cat like grace he leapt back onto the table were Xander waited for him before catching the foot that was sent at his stomach, utilising his own supernatural strength he swung Xander through the air before letting him go almost falling over due to the momentum used. It was his turn to be proud not watching the teenager slam through one of the wooden tables dotted around, it quickly left his face though when he saw him getting back to his feet and throwing a piece of broken wood off of him.

"If that's all you have, you'll be blowing in the wind." Xander cockily replied slowly walking towards Angelus, who was making his way over to him. Standing face to face the two males seemed to size each other up before the vampire threw a punch to Xander's face, bringing his forearm up across his face to block the punch Xander retaliated with a knee to the gut that was stopped when Angelus put his free hand on top of the leg preventing it from moving any further. "Missed one." Came the taunt as Xander used his own free hand to connect with a hook that staggered but didn't knock down the vampire, not wanting to lose the advantage that he was given Xander took two steps closer to Angelus before connecting with his left fist before using his right once again and for the fourth time that fight already there was someone before sent through the air.

Spitting out blood from his position on the floor Angelus listened to the footsteps of Xander coming closer to him wanting to wait until the right time to attack, picking up a broken chair leg from his last scuffle with the Furyan a malicious grin formed on his face. There was after all a reason he was called the Scourge of Europe. Seeing the shadow behind him being cast by the clubs strobe lights, spinning around he slammed the piece of wood across Xander side and stomach feeling it snap from the force of the impact, a hook was thrown next but before Xander was even lifted off of his feet Angelus grabbed hold of the vest top that he was wearing pulling him back for another punch in the opposite direction. Still having hold he felt some on the material tear in his fingers as Xander was sent away from him and watched as the boy's body hit and bounced off the metal beam holding the second tier platform up.

"Really, it was noble you tried and all, but you should have known it was useless to try and fight me." Angelus told him in a superior tone, if he were honest with himself the fight had lasted longer then he thought it would have after he threw Xander away like trash earlier on. Leaning in to drain him, he was shocked to find something preventing him from actually getting closer. That was when he clicked Xander's hand was wrapped around his throat, he could tell that if he needed air to live then he would be in serious trouble but lucky for him he didn't. So caught up in his own thoughts he didn't realize that he was moving backwards until it was too late. A hard shove to his shoulder sent him stumbling away from Xander and into position for the uppercut that slammed into his jaw, Angelus almost seemed to fly in slow motion before his lower back crashed into the top of the pool table leaving his half hanging off of it. Groaning in pain he only half saw the black boot connecting with his head before everything went black.

Spitting out a small amount of his own blood Xander stood panting in the middle of the Bronze looking down at his fallen prey, it might have gone the way he wanted it to in the end but in reality it was far too close for him to try something like that again so soon after being injured. Grabbing the chain from the top of the table he wrapped it around Angelus' wrists binding them together before tossing him over own shoulder and picking his cloak up with the other. Walking out of the door that was on the opposed side of the club then he came in from Xander heard the door slam open and yells of what might have been the Sunnydale police.

It was safe to say that Xander had gone into the school the next day a lot happier then he one prior to it, you wouldn't have been able to tell from his facial expression that seemed to be stuck on 'I don't care' most of the time, but it was in the way that he didn't glare at anyone that cut him off by walking in front of him. After all he had just captured one of the most dangerous vampires to ever live last night and if that wasn't something that would make you smile that then watching Buffy walked down the corridor in one of her famous short skirts would have.

In what seemed to be routine now for him Xander followed the blonde slayer to the library before making sure that either Giles or Wesley was just about to start their rant on whatever it was they thought to be important that day. It was then that Xander walked through the swinging doors before leaning against the counter and staring straight ahead while taking glances at the rest of the group, the first few times he had done this it had shocked everyone, now however it was expected and apart from the still routinely done glare from Wesley no one seemed to care anymore.

That was until Buffy took this time to rearrange the seating arrangements, walking over to were Xander stoically stood she grabbed her boyfriend by the hand before leading him back to where the rest of the group sat at the table; obviously not bothered by what she was doing Xander allowed Buffy to push him back onto the seat that she had been using before climbing into his lap with her head resting on his shoulder before she turned to look at bother watchers' not seeing or caring about the amused looks they were getting.

"You were about so say?" she offered helpfully looking at Giles as she could tell he was the least annoyed of the two by her, not that she cared if Wesley was annoyed but she knew that it would bother him further by ignoring him after stopping his speech.

"Buffy." Wesley started to the groans of both slayers and an annoyed look by Xander who really didn't know just what he was doing there. "Both yours and Faith's decision last night to skip on patrol was immature and improper of a slayer to do." Taking this time to wonder if he was like that Giles stepped back towards his office before leaning on the wall and watching his younger counterpart while returning the smile that Jenny sent him. "You bad decision making is obviously due to Mr Harris being part of the group, and after Mr Giles informed me of what happened at Halloween I'm afraid to inform you all that Mr Harris be allowed in on these meetings, have any discussion of supernatural matters or go on patrol with either you or Faith as of today." After finishing his new sets of rules, if Wesley was expecting Xander to leave the library he was sorely mistaken, instead Xander narrowed his eyes at the young watcher and smirked as he squirmed under his silver gaze.

"Xander won't be going anywhere." Buffy replied wrapping his arms around her waist as she snuggled into his chest just to drive home her point, something that amused everyone there apart from Wesley. "You see me and Faith are the slayers, we go out every night and fight the forces of evil. Risk our lives and the lives of people around us to save the world that never knows what happens and can never thank us. You've never been out there, instead you sit in your office and come up with your little rules to try and impose on us here while drinking you tea."

"I have taken part of two encounters with vampires under council controlled conditions." Wesley shot back unaware of the disgusted look that Giles was giving him. He had faced and casued more danger then that thing walking around in a suit before he had joined the council.

"Controlled conditions?" Faith asked looking at him, amusement dancing in her eyes. "When you go out there to fight whatever it is you people are sending us against me and Buffy aren't exactly in controlled conditions. We're in a fight for our lives something that you don't care about as long as the job in done." A slight cough caught everyone's attention and took it to Jenny who smiled back apologetically before nodded slightly at Xander before turning away once again; however Faith knew what she had done. "And X here, he's out muscle ok." Wesley looked more than ready to start talking again, "He can more then hold his own against a slayer, I've seen him snap the neck of a Mohra demon the night I came here like it was nothing, and then when it resurrected itself and came back stronger he was right there again helping us out to kill it. So no he won't be going anywhere." Buffy and Faith's passionate speech about slayers and Xander earned them a round of applause from Willow, Jenny and Giles as well as a dangerously narrowed glare from Wesley who turned to open his mouth again before the bell cut him off.

"I think that's the bell for you to go to class." Jenny said grinning widely and making no attempt to hide it was she watched the four leave not before Xander almost reduced Wesley to a pile of mush with his glare before he followed the two slayers and Willow out.

"Mr Giles, I can assure you that the council will hear about this when I next contact them to tell them just how well you're controlling the situation here." Wesley said before leaving the library himself.

"Did you see his face?" Buffy asked skipping ahead of the quartet with a grin on her face, "he really thought that he could order us about like that and say who he involved in our group of saving the world. How many times has he died, come back to life, saved the world and looked good doing it?" she asked aware that no one was really paying her any attention anymore that didn't matter too much right now she was just happy.

Walking through the doors opposite the gym standing in the door way they watched people diving into the huge swimming pool with disinterest, sure they knew that they had to keep fit but seriously what was with this school and the way it seemed to think everyone wanted to be part of its sports teams?

"Swimming." Xander said in annoyance before turning and walking towards the male changing rooms, if someone had told him that he would be expected to swim today then he would have stayed in bed or at least gone back to the building on the outskirts of town. He had some unfinished business there.

"Harris." Larry called walking over to him with a somewhat friendly smile on his face before standing next to the male who was current throwing his shirt into a locker. "You interested in joining the swim team?" he asked not noticing that his gaze had dropped to the two small scares that marked Xander's chest before snapping his eyes back up.

"No." Xander replied before walking away from the captain of the football team without so much as a backward glance, he had more important things to do with his time and join the swimming team. Things like taking his revenge on everyone and anyone that wronged him. Walking out of the changing rooms Xander dropped into the pool before starting to do a set of very lazy laps around the edge of the pool, did anyone really care just how good a swimmer you were? He didn't think so and yet found that the changes that had been taking place in him were pretty good for swimming, which was until he felt someone diving on top of his back squealing her joy.

"Swim boy." Buffy cried wrapping her arms around Xander's neck and shoulders holding on her dear life with Faith laughing as she swam behind them, she had half expected Xander to shrug her off of his back and was shocked when he actually started swimming with her attached to him. Trying to kick her legs to help give them more momentum she found that due to how far up his back she was and her height problem she wasn't making any contact with the water and chose to just enjoy her ride.

"Summers, Harris." Came the shout from the coach, "That's against the safety regulations of the pool." Pouting Buffy slid off of Xander's back before he turned to face her raising his eyebrow in question to which her reached up and kissed the side of his cheek. Faith was no longer interested in the pair now that they had been stopped from swimming around like they were had left them to go and flirt with members on the team more looked at her like Christmas had come early for them. Smiling up at her boyfriend Buffy's attention much like Larry's was drawn to the two scars on his chest; frowning at them she let one of her hands trace over them feeling the difference in the texture of his skin unappealing. She couldn't do anything to stop the affection that was filling her body as she stared at the wounds on his body; leaving two light kisses on either scar she slowly looked up at Xander before wrapping her arms around his neck and started to pull his head down to her own. "Summers, Harris for the last time that's not allowed in the pool." The coach yelled at them.

Closing the door to the wooden building for a different reason this time Xander did nothing to stop the smile that was forming on his face, it was luck that he didn't have any lessons with Faith after the pool because the way Buffy's face was bright red the next time he saw her there was no doubt in his mind that the brunette slayer had shown just how dirty her mind was. But now was time for him to show just how vicious he was.

Turning to the figure that was held up by a large chain that was wrapped around a beam to stop them falling to the floor and covered in a thick dust sheet muffled screaming could be heard coming from underneath it something that amused Xander as he took his time to walk over and rip the sheet off revealing an extremely pissed off Angelus.

"Harris, I'm going to tear our your throat the second I get free and do the fucking backstroke in your blood," he screamed at his captor who didn't even flinch from the threat, instead Xander walked over to the chain and slowly unwrapped it from the wooden beam before looking up at the ceiling with a sinister smile in his face. Something that Angelus didn't seem to noticed as he was too busy shouting at him. "If you think what you read in books was bad wait until I get my hands on youUUU!" his yelled turned high pitched when he quickly came into contact with the ceiling of the room and the numerous crosses that had been nailed up there. Screams of pain and the smell of burning rotted flesh filled the room as Xander watched Angelus skin bubble from the holy items.

"Did you just threaten me vampire?" Xander asked lowering Angelus enough so the vampire could turn his head to look at his tormentor in the eye, apparently he went to say something else but before he could Xander once again jerked on the chain sending him flying back into the ceiling and smirked at the screams on pain that were coming out of Angelus. "You see I'm having a hard time hearing you over your screams," he shouted to make sure he was heard before lowering the vampire again and reattaching the chain to the beam before walking over to him.

"I hope you get good use out of Buffy because when I'm finished with her, her mind would have snapped from the rape." He laughed out blood coming down his burnt jaw. Unluckily for him however this was the wrong thing to say to Xander who walked back over to the chair and held it in his hands for a few seconds before jerking Angelus into the ceiling before letting him drop to the floor straight away, he did this for another five or six times until he saw the vampire's eyes shut. Jerking the chain as roughly as he could until he was positioned just in front of the ceiling and crosses Xander once again wrapping it around the beam before leaving the building.


	13. Caught once, caught twice

The loud knocking on the wooden door shocked the three girls in Buffy's room as well as Joyce who had been walking up the stairs to see if they were alright having heard them shrieking and wasn't too sure what had caused it. Turning on the stairs she stared at the front door not knowing just who was on the other side, just as she was about to start walking back down to open the door her daughter's door opened and Buffy and Faith walked out, Willow trailing behind them; not stopping to look at her mum Buffy walked past her with her sister slayer next to her.

"Xander?" Buffy asked looking at her boyfriend, she was shocked to see him there having been told that he had other things to do once again; she stopped herself from throwing herself at him when he walked in the house and stood in the light. Joyce could be heard gasping as she looked at Xander, there was a large tear in the vest top he was wearing; his jaw had a purplish mark forming on it not to mention the numerous cuts that were on his face and what could be seen of his chest. "What happened?" she asked her hand trailing down his back before he stepped away with a small wince when her hand reached the bottom of his back.

"X you look like hell." Faith laughed only earning a glare from him, she was stunned by the viciousness of it; his silver eyes seemed to shine more so in the light from the lounge.

"There's a bathroom upstairs," Joyce said feeling the tension in the room that was increasing every second that passed, Xander's arrival might have been a big enough surprise for them but it was obvious that he wasn't going to tell them what happened just yet. Turning away from the prying eyes Xander made his way past Willow on the stairs without a word or a backward glance to any of them, something that only served to confuse the others even more; even after Halloween he had been more talkative then this. "Maybe we should think about calling the police," Joyce offered to the remaining three people standing at the still open doorway, Willow now walked down the last steps and stood next to Buffy who had been left staring in the direction that Xander had gone confusion etched on her face.

"That probably isn't the best idea Mrs Summers," Willow said turning to the older woman, they all had an idea of what had caused the injuries to Xander; and there was no way they would be able to tell the police never mind the fact that something that could do that type of damage to him would easily destroy any police force Sunnydale had. While two of the group seemed to be now discussing why they should or shouldn't call the police, Faith managed to grab Buffy's attention before motioning for her to go upstairs and talk to Xander.

"We should leave it," Faith said joining the conversation to keep them from seeing Buffy walking away, now earning the attention that she wanted she walked over to the open door before throwing the blonde slayer a glance as she rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, closing the door and locking it she turned back to Willow and Joyce. "Whatever happened to X, he isn't going to talk about it to the police. Let him get cleaned up and see if he'll talk to Buffy." She said now mentioning her name and watched as Joyce looked around for her daughter before offering Faith a small smile before turning to look at the stairs, knowing that they had been caught Faith could only grin deviously at Joyce before walking further into the lounge and relaxing on the couch. "If he doesn't tell her, then we'll bug him about it."

Not knocking on the door Buffy walked into the bathroom not too sure what her boyfriend would be doing on the other side, her eyes widened seeing him tossing the top to the floor with his back turned to her. Despite being a hormonal seventeen year old female and seeing the muscles ripple in Xander's back her eyes were drawn to the bruising that was at the base of his spine as well as the enflamed skin that seemed to carry on around to his front. She knew that he knew she was there but kept his back turned to her, closing the door behind her she took a step forward before once again letting her hand trail down his back this time in a lighter motion then downstairs.

"What happened?" she asked slowly wrapping her arms around his back, she left the air leave his body as he slumped down slightly before one of his larger hands covered her own, allowing him to do whatever it was she closed her eyes as he led her hands over his stomach and up before she pulled away in worry feeling the skin go in due to a puncture wound. "Xan?" she asked using her strength to turn him around without any resistance, her jaw dropped seeing a small piece of wood protruding from his side which had been the cause of the reddening skin that she had been able to see from behind him. Before she could ask him for the third time what happened her breath got caught in her throat as she watched him pull the piece of wood out with a grunt, if she hadn't seen worse things in her short life there was a good chance that she might have thrown up as blood was now flowing freely from the wound.

"It was nothing," he said putting his hand over the hole in his side, he knew that he should have locked the door after himself; it was clear to him that Buffy was going to follow him up and part of his brain told him that was the reason that the door had remained unlocked. He met her gaze and saw that there was no way she was going to believe his blatant lie, pushing him onto the toilet seat she opened the cupboard door that the small mirror was hung on before removing a small white box that held an assortment of basic medical supplies including butterfly stitches and self adhesive pads. Watching the diminutive blonde walk back over to him there was something cute and funny about it that Xander just couldn't put his finger on, not saying anything as she picked a cotton ball up and poured antiseptic liquid on it; he kept his eyes forward making sure that no one else came through the door.

"If you told me that you were going to patrol tonight I would have gone with you and this wouldn't have happened." She told him, slightly insult with the fact that she didn't think he was able to look after himself Xander found himself more than ready to remind her of what happened the last time both of them fought each other. The feeling of the butterfly stitches on his skin was more than a little uncomfortable as the way his skin was pulled while he tried to relax due to the gauze pad covering a larger part of his body. "You still not going to tell me?" Buffy asked standing up and putting her hands on her hips, finding himself question just why he came here with each second that went by Xander was half way in a standing position when he found himself being pushed back down and a slayer straddling him. "A no would have done," she said wrapping her arms around his neck and smiling slightly at him.

"I'm telling you Buffy, it's nothing." Xander replied, his voice coming out more gravel like either due to tiredness or annoyance that she wouldn't let it go. A smirk formed on his face when she merely raised her eyebrow in retaliation to him saying that it was nothing, "So just let it drop ok." This time it was Buffy who tried to move away but found herself unable to with Xander's hands resting on her lower back holding her in place. The smirk could only grow when she gave him a challenging look before pushing further back on his hands even though her own arms were still wrapped around his neck.

"Are you trying to keep me here against my will Mr Harris?" she asked leaning in closer to him, it was Xander who raised his eyebrow this time silently mocking her as if to tell her that not once in her attempts to get off of his lap did she remove her arms from around his neck. "Because I'm sure there are laws against holding beautiful women hostage in their bathrooms." She said trying to keep her voice level as she felt Xander's breath against her skin. Closing the gap between them there was nothing she could do but smile and sigh feeling his mouth covering her own, she had told herself that she was going to keep the kiss chaste but that thought quickly went out the window when she felt Xander's tongue trail across her bottom lip. Parting her lips to give her access to her mouth she shifted closer to him before feeling something very telling pressing up against her through the fabric of the cargo pants he was wearing. Trying to keep control over the kiss which was something she found harder to with as Xander's tongue rolled over her own she knew that if they didn't stop soon there was a chance things would get out of hand too soon.

"Buffy?" came the call from her mum as well as three knocks on the bathroom door, that had been more than enough for her to pull away from Xander even if she had been caught in two minds about that fact; the more rational side of her brain knew that it was for the best that they had stopped the, while the slayer side of her brain had whined at the fact. From the way that Xander looked at her with the same cocky smirk on his face it told her that the whine wasn't heard just in her head.

"Yeah mum?" Buffy replied trying to compose herself, she knew full well that her mum wanted the door open and slowly stood up hoping that her face wasn't red even though it felt like it was on fire. Carefully she opened the door and stood in the gap trying to prevent Joyce from seeing Xander sitting on the toilet seat, it would have worked in she wasn't so small and if Joyce wasn't able to look over the top and her and look at her boyfriend before turning her attention back to Buffy.

"I just wanted to make sure that Xander was ok," she said before giving her daughter a teasing look, "But I can see that you're on top of that." Face flaming once again Buffy let out a horrified noise that was something between a muffled gasp and a shriek before she fled the bathroom and ran down the hall before her door could be heard slamming shut. Laughing briefly at her daughter before remembering that she wasn't alone Joyce turned to look at Xander who was still seated on the toilet, his body was turned to her to prevent her from seeing the gauze pad that was on his side, her was in no mood for questions from her knowing that she had no idea about the supernatural side of Sunnydale's nightlife she would expect him to go to the hospital and he wasn't even sure if he would need it. "There's a spare room you can sleep in," she told him understanding the fact that he would be spending the night with them and not going home, she started walking away from the bathroom before putting her head back in and levelling him with a menacing glare. "Alone."

"Your mum caught you with X in the bathroom," Faith repeated having been stood at the bottom of the stairs when Joyce had gone up to check on her daughter and Xander, Willow had left a few minutes after Xander had arrived saying her parents would be expecting her back soon but it seemed more likely that she was about to buckle under the pressure Joyce was giving her as to why they shouldn't phone the police and tell them what about Xander. "Geez B, if I knew what was going on with you two up there I would have stopped her from going up there. You two need time alone now you've finally got your shit together." Apart from hiding her face in her pillow after telling Faith what had happened Buffy was still unsure on how she found the situation with her mum knocking on the bathroom door.

This time there was no knock as Joyce walked into Buffy's bedroom and smiled at Faith as well as the sight of her daughter hiding her face in her pillow trying to block out what Faith was saying to her.

"Buffy, you'll have to share your room with Faith tonight," Joyce said signalling her arrival to her daughter who as well as Faith looked at her in confusion, "Xander's going to be staying in the spare room tonight," she told them fully aware of the look that the two slayers gave each other thinking that it went unnoticed by her. "Don't think about trying to sneak into his room Buffy or I'll send him home.

"Sure mum," Buffy replied looking at Joyce with an innocent smile on her face, "Me and Faith will share the room," her mind was already working overtime on how long it would take for her mum to fall asleep and the way that the brunette slayer had turned around so her back was facing Joyce and was giving her a devious smile there was a good chance that she was thinking about the same thing.

Before anything else could be said the sound of the shower going on caught the attention of all three females, and the way that Buffy seemed to be staring at the wall almost like she could see right through it only made Joyce and Faith laugh at her.

"Buffy I'm trusting you." Joyce said giving her daughter a warning look before turning and walking out of her bedroom.

The heat of the shower was enough to relax Xander's tense and alert muscles, the fight with Angelus had been enough to fill his body with adrenaline and then of course Buffy hadn't help matters all that much, peeling the gauze pad off of his side he tossed it out of the curtain and onto the ruined vest top that had long ago been discarded. With the bar of soap in hand he went over the stitches lighter than he did the rest of his body trying to get the sweat, grime and other things that had been on the floor of the Bronze and were now on his body. Hearing someone walking outside the bathroom door he turned his head to the side, with his vision however he was able to tell that no one had walked into the bathroom. His mind travelled back to the vampire that was locked in that small hut, ever since the night were he had been baited into trying to attack him which ended up with him having two arrows in him, he'd been more then aware that something was off with him; that fight only cemented that fact. Oh well, who he was now was of no consequence when he was blowing in the wind.

Tying the towel that he had laid out for himself, Xander walked down the hallway towards the spare room with his cargo pants and underwear in one hand. Opening the partially closed door that led to the spare bedroom he stopped and stared at faith who was laying down on the bed before looking up and grinning at him. After the small scuffle between the two earlier in the day Xander didn't know if he could trust the brunette slayer and his body was once again on alert as she walked across the room to him.

"Change of plans stud, you're in B's room with her." She told him with a smile on her face that told him her and Buffy thought they were clever for going against what Joyce had told them. Not saying anything he turned from the room and started walking away but before shaking his head hearing Faith whistle at him as he left.

* * *

Xander woke up to the feeling of a tickling sensation on his nose, his eyes opened before snapping shut seconds later; the light pouring in through the window was directly on his face and almost blinded him because of it. Turning his body slightly so the back of his head was positioned at the window he once again opened his eyes and could now see the room that he was sleeping in even if things were a much brighter shade of the normal hue he was used to seeing things in; looking down at what had been tickling his nose he was unable to stop the half smile that formed on his face seeing Buffy with both arms wrapped around him and head tucked under his chin. The feeling of her much smaller and smoother leg running up and down his own was enough to produce a low growl from his before he could stop it.

Due to his movement to block the sun from his face when he opened his eyes, the blanket that had been covering the two had shifted significantly between the pair with him no longer having all that much; in an almost mocking way it had covered nearly all of the front of Buffy but then if he could remember she had kept most of the blanket the night before. Finding her laying on top of his left arm and hand Xander used his free hand to make a light path down her back flowing over the bra strap and watched as her body arched somewhat, with a slight smirk on his face he ran his finger up her back again and was met with the same reaction his time however her arching was more prominent.

On the third time of doing it Buffy started to stretch her body out along his with a cat like touch to it before moving in closer to him, her head rubbing against his chest. Watching her sleep for a few seconds Xander didn't know what he should think about the slayer in his arms, since that night he had apparently been inside his own head he had been less in two minds of what he was going to do, but there was still two voices telling him what he should do at certain points. For the past few days he'd been listening to the Furyan side of his personality and it seemed to get him through by doing the right things; but it was at times like this that the 'Riddick mentality' was more subdued almost at piece and yet it came alight when he was doing more than just watching Buffy. So lost in his own thoughts he didn't see the blonde slayer waking up, seeing the chest in front of her caused a happier floor on her face; leaning forward she placed a small kiss on Xander's chest feeling him look down at her.

"Hi." She whispered to him smiling gently, the look was replicated somewhat as he ran his finger down her back once again; this time she didn't arch her back but couldn't help the shiver that ran through her body at his gentle touch. Pressing her body closer to his trying to stop him seeing the way the look in her eyes from the feeling of electricity that had gone through her at the simple touch. She was aware that her hand was resting on the wound on his side, when he had walked in the night before she had been beyond angry that he had taken the gauze pad off but had known it was impossible for her to shout at him properly. "Feeling better?" she asked tapping the stitches on his skin with one finger to tell him what she was asking about. Rolling his eyes at the question Xander took her hand in his own and pressed against the wound while keeping eye contact.

"I'm fine," he told her after a few seconds, at some point during the night when he woke up he had the horrible feeling of his skin being pulled, he had to resist the urge to pull the stitches off of him to see what was happening but the only thing he could think of was that it was the wound healing. "And no, I'm not going to talk about it," he added knowing what her next question was going to be. He was proven to be right when he saw Buffy roll her eyes and pull away from him.

"Buffy?" came the all too familiar call from the other side of the door, almost knowing that she should have expected her mum to be up and about not only interrupting whatever was going on between her and Xander; she gave her boyfriend a push off of her bed and had to hide a laugh when he went over the edge and hit the floor with a loud thud. "Are you ok in there?" Joyce asked opening the door, Buffy jumped up as quickly as she could grabbing hold of the top that had been tossed to the floor last night and hastily tossed it over her head; only managing to pull it down enough before her mum was fully in the room and staring at her daughter. "What was that noise?" she asked moving further into the room as Buffy stood at the side of her bed next to the small table that Mr Gordo had been on.

"What noise?" she asked looking at her mum like she had been hearing things, seeing that it wasn't going to be bought she kicked the table creating a completely different noise to the one that Xander had made after being tossed off of the bed. "You mean that? I knocked it when I was getting out of bed," she said feeling dumber and dumber by the second knowing full well the noises didn't sound anything alike. From his position on the floor Xander rolled his eyes at Buffy and debated standing back up just to see what would happen when Joyce saw him, deciding against it however he quickly rolled himself under the bed when he saw Joyce walking over to the side of the room that he was on before reaching back out and grabbing hold of his pants. "What's up anyway?" Buffy asked jumping on the bed narrowly missing Xander's head, retaliating he hit the bottom of the mattress.

"I just wanted to say by to you before I went to work at the gallery," Joyce replied becoming more and more curious to what her daughter was up to, the fact that Faith wasn't in the room and wasn't downstairs either wasn't lost on her but she could tell how desperately Buffy was trying to keep calm about everything and decided to let her win this one. After all there was always next time to bust the pair for going against what she had said and Xander sleeping in Buffy's room with her, if she thought the pair had; had sex last night then there was absolutely no chance she would be carrying this little game on. "I won't be home for dinner tonight, so you'll have to make your own," she said walking out the door before remembering her daughter's poor cooking skills, "Or just order take out."

Coughing back at laugh Xander could picture the look of mock anger on Buffy's face from her less then great cooking skills being brought up, he was also sure that if he put his ear to the bottom of the mattress he'd be able to her the blonde slayer's heart beating through the bed. He could only hope that Faith didn't walk into the room and mention his name with Joyce being there.

"I can cook," Buffy said and you could hear the pout on her face as she looked down, Joyce offered a small laugh before walking out of the room closing the door behind her. Not enjoying his time on the floor Xander rolled back out from under her bed and got back to his feet before climbing on the bed with Buffy. "I _can_ cook you know." She restated looking at him, clearing his throat Xander looked away from Buffy and towards the door making sure that it was fully clothed. His lack of telling her he believed her was enough for Xander to get slayer jumped, looking up at the ceiling in shock of what happened and the fact that his girlfriend was pinning him to the bed he knew things could be worse. Sitting on his stomach Buffy held Xander's above his bed, her hands only just able to wrap around his wrists and keep them down. "I can cook." She growled at him, there might have been a time when Xander would have made fun of her or got her off of him; but seeing her straddling him for the second time in a day looking sex, angry and hot was a lot better then he thought it would have been. "Say I can cook." She ordered in the same growl.

Watching the way that her hair fell down around her face and the gleam in her eyes Xander wasn't exactly in the mood to agree with her and smirked back up. He waited for Buffy to realise he wasn't going to say that she could cook and lowered her head further, unlike the night prior in the bathroom he didn't wait for Buffy to initiate the kiss this time and reached up catching her in mid word as she went to repeat her order. The gasp of shock that came from her was enough for him to immediately deepen the kiss and reverse their positions on the bed, not holding her hands down he quickly found Buffy putting them everywhere she could too caught up to remember what she had been saying seconds before.

Lowering his body further on the tiny slayer's Xander's own hands were making a path down her body trailing over her breasts which earned him a small moan as well as her nails digging into his back trying to push him on top of her.

"B, I think you're..." Faith's statement was cut off with a wolf whistle as she stared at the pair, with an annoyed slowness the pair separated from each other before Xander rolled to his side and looked at Faith while Buffy sat up the same anger showing on both of their faces. "You know maybe you should look for a lock on this door," she said with a grin now that she knew just what had been happening in the room and didn't look like she was going to be leaving anytime soon, with a more then irritated sigh Xander stood from the bed before walking towards the door and past Faith.

"I should head home anyway," he called over his shoulder to the pair; "Get something to eat, get changed." He added before walking down the stairs and out the front door leaving Buffy no time to call after him.


End file.
